New COVID Strain Hasn't Been Found In India Says Govt; Race To Identify Recent UK Returns Is On

Even as India faces the threat of the new COVID-19 strain that was first reported in the UK, there is some good news for the country for now - the mutant strain was not seen in the samples tested from various parts of India, Dr. Samiran Panda, director of ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) said.

"We have tested samples collected from the various parts of the country and haven't seen the mutant strain found in the UK. We shouldn't think that this will definitely come to India," Dr Panda said.

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"The transmission and severity of the disease are not known. This particular finding needs to be seen in scientific light and also in the right perspective. We need to be watchful as COVID-19 is a new phenomenon and was unknown to the immune system. The virus changes under immunological pressure for survival and due to proliferation as well," he explained.

'Keeping track of the developments'

Dr Panda said that whether the new strain of the virus will cause a serious public health threat is unclear as of now. "We are keeping tracking of the viral genome that is circulating within the country. Over the last six-seven months, the viral genome studies that have taken place involving over 2,000 samples that have not identified this mutation."

Though a total of 20 people who had returned to Delhi from the UK had tested positive for COVID-19, the virus is not the mutant strain.

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Of the 20 that tested positive, six were on a flight that landed in Delhi at 11.30 pm on Monday, two on a flight that came into Kolkata on Sunday night, four that arrived in Ahmedabad on Tuesday and eight, including a crew member, in Amritsar who also reached today. All were direct Air India flights from London.

Other states stepping up efforts

Meanwhile, various states have been stepping up efforts to trace those who have returned from the UK in recent weeks.

In Telangana, the government said it has traced 158 of the 355 passengers who had returned to the state from the UK since December 15.

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In Karnataka, 259 people have returned from the UK during the same period out of which one person has been tested positive for COVID-19, while five others have been quarantined.

Earlier, the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Monday had announced in the light of the new strain of coronavirus found in the UK that the flights from and to the UK stand temporarily suspended from December 23 to 31, 2020 or till further orders.

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The government has also issued a direction that all the passengers coming from the UK during the intervening period from December 21 to 23 will have to undergo RT-PCR tests at the airports of arrival.