Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of cases in India.
Pune:
As India steps up testing to contain the spread of a new mutant strain of coronavirus, first found in the UK in September, the Pune civic body has launched a video appeal to track more than 100 returning travelers. from the UK before December 22. The Pune Municipal Corporation has also asked the city police for help. The appeal of the civic organism comes as the count of Indian patients infected with the mutant strain, believed to be significantly more infectious, rose to 20 this morning.
“I want to appeal to all Pune residents who have returned from the UK to contact us. We have not been able to trace 109 UK travelers due to incorrect contact details,” said Rubal Agarwal, Municipal Commissioner additional Pune. I heard him say in a clip that was almost a minute long.
“All these people landed before December 22 and were supposed to remain in quarantine for seven days. I appeal to them because 10 days have already passed after their arrival … symptoms. We will not put them in institutional quarantine,” adds.
Some travelers landed in Mumbai and arrived in Pune by road. While the PMC’s contact tracing team tried to reach them, they could not be traced, the civic body said.
According to PMC guidelines, all passengers arriving from Western Asian and European countries must undergo mandatory institutional quarantine at their own cost in nearby hotels in the city for seven days.
A consortium of 10 government laboratories has begun sequencing the genome of the new Sars-CoV-2 variant detected in the UK. Of the 20 cases of the mutant strain, a laboratory in Pune has registered one case so far. Eight samples tested positive in a Delhi laboratory and seven in a Bengaluru laboratory.
India has extended the temporary ban on travel to the UK until January 7. The country’s count increased to 1,02,44,852 cases this morning.
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