The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in a statement has said that the five passengers who recently returned from the UK and tested positive for the new COVID-19 strain, have recovered.
Moreover, the BMC also sought to reassure the public saying fliers who had arrived from other parts of Europe and East Asia and had tested positive for coronavirus do not have the mutated form.
As per reports, in Mumbai, civic health workers traced about 2,600 passengers who had arrived in the city from the UK between November 25 and December 21. Of these fliers, 26 tested positive for the coronavirus whereas five were found to be carrying the mutated strain after their samples were sent for genome sequencing to the National Institute of Virology, Pune.
Meanwhile, with over 1,000 cases of the variant discovered in the UK, scientists are puzzled to determine if the variant, named as VUI-202012/01, represents an increased health risk especially when some nations has now begun administering vaccines among people.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Health has also established the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) for laboratory and epidemiological surveillance. It has also planned to expand the whole-genome sequencing of the coronavirus in the country which is to aid in the understanding of the contagious disease.
Moreover, the government has extended the suspension on scheduled commercial international flights till January 31, 2021. The restrictions will not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis, the ministry said in a statement.
Share
Tweet
