11 returnees from the UK tested positive in Maharashtra, 3 of them in Mumbai | Mumbai News


MUMBAI: Three more passengers who returned from the UK to the city after November 25 tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of these patients to 15 so far.
In the state, 11 new cases were added Tuesday, bringing the state count to 43.
Samples from these patients will be sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for gene sequencing and checking whether they have been infected by the highly contagious new strain of Covid-19 that emerged in the UK.
BMC health departments and the state, following a directive from the Center, began screening UK returnees between November 25 and December 21 for Covid-19. Passengers from other European countries, South Africa, and West Asia who arrived in the city after December 21 will be quarantined in a hotel and screened for Covid-19 between the fifth and seventh day of quarantine.
BMC’s chief health officer, Dr Mangala Gomare, said 944 of the UK returnees in the city had been screened so far. “We have 15 positive patients, but when we started taking the history of the passengers, we realized that many of them are from outside Mumbai or the state. There are very few from Mumbai itself, ”Dr. Gomare said.
Dr. Pradeep Awate of the state health department said 2,516 travelers had been tested throughout the state. The state has tracked 3,900 passengers so far.
“We have also tracked 169 contacts of affected passengers and tested 135 of them,” said Dr. Awate.
Of them, seven tested positive.
The state update said that apart from the 15 positive returnees in Mumbai, there were seven from Thane and six each from Pune and Nagpur. While two patients were each from Nashik, Aurangabad, and Buldhana, one case each was reported from Nanded, Raigad, and Washim.
So far, samples from 32 cases have achieved NIV for gene sequencing.
On Tuesday, the BMC sent 361 passengers to mandatory institutional quarantine from the airport. A total of 664 passengers arrived on nine flights on Monday. While 254 passengers were allowed to travel to other states, 49 were exempted from quarantine.

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