BENGALURU / CHENNAI: Even as the number of patients who tested positive for the mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2, which originated in Britain, rose to 25 in India on Thursday, according to official sources, several state governments stepped up their push to track the missing UK returnees who landed in India in the last month or so.
While Karnataka has yet to find 175 passengers, including 80 foreigners, the Tamil Nadu government has so far been unable to track down some 360 returnees from the UK, all of them from Chennai and Chengalpattu.
Some 2,300 travelers have returned from the UK in TN since November 21 and the government has tracked down 1,936 of them, all of whom have undergone RT-PCR testing. While 24 tested positive and 1,853 tested negative, 59 results are expected. Passengers are difficult to track as they have provided wrong addresses, state health secretary J Radhakrishnan told reporters in Chennai.
Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar said: “Of the 175 missing, 80 are not Indian citizens. This means we do not have their contact details. But the Interior Ministry is investigating the matter.”
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