New Covid-19 strain infections: India crosses 100-mark, says govt
Till January 11, the number of people affected by this strain of the coronavirus was 96All these people were kept in single-room isolation in designated healthcare facilities by respective state governments
India on Wednesday crossed 100-mark on new and 'highly infectious' Covid-19 strain infections to reach 102, said the Union Health Ministry.
Till January 11, the number of people affected by this strain of the coronavirus was 96.
On Wednesday, the ministry said, "The total number of persons found to be positive with the new UK variant genome stands at 102 today."
All these people were kept in single-room isolation in designated healthcare facilities by respective state governments. Their close contacts have also been put in quarantine and comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others.
Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on, the ministry said, adding 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 (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium) labs, the ministry said.
After the new strain of coronavirus was detected in Britain, the Central Government had imposed a ban on flights coming to India from the UK with effect from 22 December, 2020. However, the flight operations between India and the UK resumed from 8 January. Passengers will have to undergo an RT-PCR test both in the UK before boarding their flight and after arriving in India.
The Central Government has also reduced the number of flights to Britain from 60 per week to 30 to curtail the faster-spreading mutant strain in the country.
Presence of the new UK variant has already been reported by several countries including Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.
Meanwhile, India added 15,968 new cases to its COVID-19 tally in the last 24 hours taking the total cases to 1,04,95,147, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.
With 17,817 more discharges, the cumulative recoveries reached 1,01,29,111. As many as 202 deaths were also reported in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,51,529.
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