Coronavirus: With 9 More Cases, India’s Total Tally Of New Mutated COVID-19 Strain Reaches 38

With 9 more people testing positive, the number of people infected with the new UK virus in India has reached 38.

Representative Image Image: AFP

Coronavirus Updates: India has detected nine more people in the country who are infected with the new mutated strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The number of people infected by the new mutated strain of Covid-19 in India has now reached 38. On Friday, January 1, the number stood at 29. A total of 38 samples have been found to be positive with the new UK Covid-19 variant. Of the 38 cases of the mutated strain of Covid-19, 10 have been detected at NIMHANS in Bengaluru, eight in NCDC Delhi, five in National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune, three in CCMB Hyderabad, 11 in the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) New Delhi, and one case at NIBMG Kalyani. The Union Ministry of Health has started comprehensive contact tracing for co-travelers, family contacts, and others to curtail the spread of this mutated variant of the killer virus. The samples of all returnees from the UK found positive in the RT-PCR test will be genome sequenced by a consortium of 10 government labs. "All these persons have been kept in single room isolation in designated Health Care facilities by respective State Governments. Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine. Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travelers, family contacts, and others. Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on," the health ministry said in a statement. The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing, and dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs, it added.

India, the only country to successfully culture the new strain of coronavirus from UK

India has successfully isolated and cultured the new 'more infectious' strain of Covid-19, which had originated in Britain recently, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday said. ICMR said that Sars-CoV-2, the killer virus causing coronavirus, was being tracked through the countrywide network of ICMR-laboratories since the early days of the pandemic in the country. Notably, no country has yet reported successful isolation and culture of the UK-variant of SARS-CoV-2. In India, Vero cell lines were used by the scientists of ICMR-NIV to culture the UK-variant of the virus, it added. So far, the new variant of Covid-19 has been detected in 29 UK returnees through genome sequencing. The UK Government had recently announced that the newly identified strain of Covid-19 found in their population is up to 70% more transmissible, following which India sprung into action. The new UK Variant has already been reported by Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore. From 25 November to 23 December midnight, around 33,000 passengers had disembarked at various Indian airports from the UK. All these passengers are being tracked and subjected by States and UTs to RT-PCR tests to track down the mutant strain of Covid-19.