News Analysis India

Tag: mutant

  • Foresee suspension of UK flights to be further extended: Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri

    Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that he foresees a “short extension” of the suspension of flights from the United Kingdom to contain the spread of the new variant of coronavirus that was first detected in that country.

    This comes a day after six people who had recently returned to India from the UK were found positive for the new mutant strain of the coronavirus.

    “I foresee a short extension on this temporary suspension. I do not see the extension to be long or indefinite,” Puri said while addressing media at an annual press conference on Civil Aviation.

    The government has imposed a ban on flights coming to India from the UK. All flights originating from the UK to India are suspended till December 31, 2020, with effect from December 22. Puri explained that the Ministry is monitoring developments in other countries too and will take further decisions accordingly.

    “We had imposed temporary suspensions when we had eight to nine flights daily from the UK. The passengers who came in from the time of the announcement to the next day were subjected to compulsory quarantine at the point of arrival. Even those who tested negative were required to go in mandatory quarantine. We went one step further and we did contact tracing and genome sequencing of passengers from the UK who have come to India since November 25,” he said.

  • New UK variant of SARS-CoV2 found in samples of six UK returnees in India: Health Ministry

    A total of 6 samples of 6 UK returnee persons have been found to be positive with the new U.K variant genome. 3 in NIMHANS, Bengaluru, 2 in CCMB, Hyderabad and 1 in NIV, Pune.

    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-travellers, family contacts and others. Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on.

    The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the States for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing & dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs.

    It is important to note that the presence of the new UK Variant has already been reported by Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore, so far.

    The entire issue was examined at length by NTF on 26th December 2020 and the NTF concluded that there is no need to change either the existing National Treatment Protocol or existing Testing Protocols in view of the mutant variant. NTF also recommended that in addition to the existing surveillance strategy, it is critical to conduct enhanced genomic surveillance.