On Tuesday, December 29, India records six cases of the coronavirus of the mutant strain of COVID-19 which is 70 per cent more transmissible and was first reported in the United Kingdom.
As per reports, all the six patients recently returned from Britain. Moreover, according to a government statement, three samples in NIMHANS of Bengaluru, two in CCMB, Hyderabad and one in NIV, Pune have been detected out of all the samples tested.
In view of the situation, all the infected patients are residing in single-room isolation in designated health care facilities by respective state governments in the country. On the other hand, the close contacts of the patients have also been put under quarantine.
The Health Ministry, further responding to the situation stated, "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."
Moreover, 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.
Earlier on Wednesday, December 23, suspecting the probability of incurring the new mutated variant of the coronavirus, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) sent samples of a 28-year-old infected man to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, Maharashtra.
Several countries across the globe have already shut their borders to Britain due to fears about the highly contagious disease. 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.
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