India wednesday extended the temporary suspension of flights to and from the UK until January 7, 2021 amid concerns about the highly contagious new strain of coronavirus, first reported in Britain. “The decision has been made to extend the temporary suspension of flights to and from the United Kingdom until January 7, 2021. A strictly regulated restart will take place thereafter, details of which will be announced shortly, ”Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted. Previously, the ban was in effect until December 31, 2020.
The decision of the Ministry of Civil Aviation comes after India reported 20 cases of new strain of coronavirus. While six cases were detected on Tuesday, 14 people tested positive for the new strain of the virus today, the PTI news agency reported.
The ministry said the UK mutated strain was detected in eight samples at the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), one at the National Institute for Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani (near Calcutta), one at the National Institute of Virology (NIV). ) Pune, seven at the Bengaluru National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience Hospital (NIMHANS), two at the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad and one at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi.
“All of these people have been kept in single-room isolation in health care facilities designated by the respective state governments. His close contacts have also been quarantined. A full contact tracing has been started for fellow travelers, family contacts, and others. Genome sequencing is being carried out on other samples, ”said the Ministry of Health.
Experts have suggested that the vaccines developed against the new coronavirus would continue to be effective despite the appearance of the new strain. However, they warned that reckless use of unproven therapies against Covid-19 puts “immune pressure” on the virus, which can lead to mutations.
Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore have already reported the presence of the new UK variant.
Around 33,000 passengers had landed at various Indian airports from the UK between November 25 and December 23, when flights to and from that country were interrupted. “All these passengers are being tracked and subjected by the states to RT-PCR tests. So far, only 114 have been positive [for all variants of the virus]”Said the Ministry.
All samples from UK returnees who test positive for RT-PCR tests will undergo genome sequencing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan told reporters. Additionally, as part of comprehensive surveillance, 5 percent of positive samples in the country’s general population will also undergo genome sequencing, Bhushan said.
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