NEW DELHI, Dec 29: India today reported at least six cases of the new coronavirus strain detected in the UK, prompting the Government to direct genome sequencing of samples from all passengers who arrived in India from December 9 to 22 and tested positive for COVID-19 or were symptomatic as it ramped up the surveillance and containment strategy.
Among the UK-returnees found infected by the new strain is a 47-year-old woman who had managed to give the slip to authorities in New Delhi after returning to India on December 21 and had reached Andhra Pradesh by train before being picked up, but the state Health Commissioner stressed that none of her contacts have been found infected.
A temporary ban on the flights connecting to the United Kingdom could be extended beyond December 31, Union Minister Hardeep Puri indicated as authorities stressed the need to remain vigilant, noting that though the cases have been declining in India, they are on the rise globally and the new strain detected in the UK had spread to several countries.
At the same time, Principal Scientific Advisor K Vijay Raghavan as well as other experts maintained that so far it has not been found that the new variant increases the severity of the disease.
As it announced the successful completion of the two-day dry-run of vaccination exercise in four states, the government also dismissed apprehensions that the current vaccines may prove ineffective against the new strain.
“There is no evidence that current vaccines will fail to protect against COVID 19 variants reported from the UK or South Africa. Most vaccines do target the Spike protein, in which there are changes in the variants but vaccines stimulate our immune system to produce a wide range of protective antibodies,” Raghavan said.
The union ministry had directed that about 33,000 passengers who disembarked at various Indian airports from the UK from November 25 to December 23 midnight be subjected to RT-PCR tests and samples of those found positive be sent for genome sequencing to chek for the presence of the variant coronavirus.
The Health Ministry said out of 114 samples of UK returnees who tested positive, the variant genome of SARS-CoV-2 was detected in six — three samples in the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences Hospital (NIMHANS) Bengaluru, two in the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad and one in the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune.
Separate reports from states said that one person who returned to Tamil Nadu from the UK tested positive for the new strain. He has been isolated in a separate room in the King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said.
Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar said that according to the preliminary information the three who tested positive in Bengaluru include a mother and child.
In Hyderabad, a top official of CMB said three people who returned from the UK had the new strain.
Of the 12 UK-returned passengers in Andhra Pradesh who tested positive for COVID-19, only the 47-year-old woman had the new strain, state Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar said, citing a report of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad.
Eight passengers who travelled by the same coach on AP Express as the UK-returned woman, from New Delhi to Visakhapatnam had tested negative for COVID-19.
“We are constantly monitoring the situation and there is no need to panic. I appeal to people not to believe in rumours,” the Commissioner added.
The Union Health Ministry has now said that samples of all international passengers who arrived in India from December 9 to 22 and tested positive for COVID-19 will be subjected to genome sequencing. (PTI)
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