At least 279 passengers who recently returned from the UK to Telangana are untraceable, state health officials it said on Saturday, while 59 new cases registered taking the number of newly contracted infections in passengers returning from Britain rose to 119 across the country since last Sunday.
Samples taken from all the virus-positive passengers were sent to laboratories for sequencing and by Monday it is likely to be known whether they carry the most transmissible variant currently plaguing the UK.
There were three new cases in Telangana, bringing the number of infected people in the UK to 21. Goa reported 16 cases among UK passengers, while there were 14 new cases in Maharashtra (17 in total). One more passenger tested positive in Nashik, but it was unclear if he had contracted the new coronavirus in the UK because he had tested negative in Mumbai airport upon returning on December 13.
Kerala reported three new infected passengers, bringing the total to eight, and Uttar Pradesh saw eight returnees from the UK test positive. A passenger from Mysuru in Karnataka was found to have the virus, while Andhra Pradesh reported six virus-positive cases.
Telangana officials said 92 of the untraceable returnees are from the neighboring states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka, and 184 had given incorrect phone numbers and addresses. “We have sent your details to your respective state governments so that they can help locate these returnees. A search is underway to find the rest, ”said Dr. G Srinivasa Rao, Director of Public Health of Telangana.
“People with the new type of virus need not worry. They just need to be vigilant, wear the mask correctly, follow physical distancing, and wash their hands regularly, ”Dr. Rao said.
Of the 14 new cases in Maharashtra, three are from Mumbai, four from Thane, one from Nagpur, two from Pune and one from Nanded, Ahmednagar, Raigad and Aurangabad.
UP (Family Health and Welfare) Additional Chief Secretary Amit Mohan Prasad said the central government had provided a list of 1,655 people who had returned from or through the UK to the state. “Of these, 1,087 have been traced, while 609 have been tested and eight tested positive,” Prasad said on Saturday.
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