Number of infections with UK mutant strain goes up to 20

The number of travellers coming to India from the UK carrying the mutant strain has gone up to 20, from the earlier announced six on more samples being tested by labs.

So far, the 10 labs which are part of the consortium that carries out genetic sequencing has gene-mapped 107 samples out of the 114 positive cases found, with 20 people carrying the strain, official sources said on Wednesday.

Also read: Covid: UK strain pushes India to map 5% of all positive cases

While eight out of 20 samples tested in Delhi are found to have the UK strain, seven of 15 in Bengaluru, two in Hyderabad, one each in Kolkata and Pune were found carrying the UK mutation, which is 70 per cent more contagious than the prevailing strains.

Between November 25 and December 23, around 33,000 passengers arrived in India from the UK and 114 were found Covid-19 positive. These samples were sent to 10 designated labs located in different parts of the country and six of them were found to have the UK variant, the statement said.

Also read: Covid-19: New UK variant is 71% more transmittable than others, says CCMB

The government has temporarily suspended all flights from the UK till December 31. The RT-PCR test has been made compulsory for those arrived.

The presence of the new UK variant has already been reported by Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore, so far.

COMMENT NOW