For the first time, India has successfully isolated and cultured the British variant of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) said in a tweet on Saturday. .
“The UK variant of the virus, with all signature changes, has now been successfully isolated and cultured at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) from clinical specimens collected from UK returnees,” the medical body wrote. country on Twitter.
He said that Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, was being tracked through the national network of ICMR laboratories since the early days of the epidemic in India. No country has yet reported successful isolation and culture of the UK variant, according to ICMR. ICMR-NIV scientists used Vero cell lines to grow the British variant of the virus, he added.
India has reported 29 cases of the new variant of the coronavirus, which is spreading rapidly through Britain and other countries, within five days of tracking its first such infection. The new UK variant genome of Sars-CoV-2 – B.1.1.7, which is much more infectious, has led to full contact tracing for fellow travelers, family members and others who have traveled to the UK in recent years. 38 days.
From November 25 to December 23, 2020, midnight, around 33,000 passengers disembarked at various Indian airports in the UK. All these passengers are being tracked and subjected by states to RT-PCR tests to detect Covid-19.
In addition to India, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore have already reported the presence of the new strain of the mutant virus.
As a precautionary measure, the Ministry of Aviation has restricted flight operations between India and the UK. Flights from India to the UK can begin on January 6, while operations from the UK to India will begin on January 8. The schedule is valid until January 23, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri clarified on Saturday.
The ministry has also issued a set of guidelines for travel between the two nations. All UK passengers will need to submit a self-declaration form on the Delhi Airport online portal (www.newdelhiairport.in) at least 72 hours prior to scheduled travel. They must bring their negative RT-PCR test report, which should have been done within 72 hours before starting the trip.
Passengers will need to undergo RT-PCR testing again upon arrival at their own expense. If the test is positive on arrival, the passengers will need to be quarantined accordingly, the government said.
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