BHUBANESWAR: In the midst of a global scare over the highly infectious SARSCoV2 strain circulating in the UK, a City native who had recently returned from Britain tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday. The 34-year-old man has immediately been isolated at a dedicated Covid hospital here and his samples sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune for genomic study.
Sources said the man had returned from UK on December 18 with a Covid negative certificate. however, he developed flu-like symptoms here and got his tests done at a private laboratory. he had tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.
“As per the instruction of the Union health Ministry, the samples of the UK returnee have been sent to the NIV for confirmatory testing and genome sequencing. his contact tracing has been conducted and swab samples of his family members collected for Covid test. They have been advised to remain in home isolation,” said a senior health official.
Uk returnee tests Covid +ve in Bhubaneswar
Even as only one uK returnee has been identified so far to have returned from uK since December 7, the State health administration is on its toes after he was found Covid positive. the government has started verifying if there are others who have returned from the country after the Centre issued an SOP on screening people coming in from Britain.
Municipal Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary said there is nothing to panic. the person has already been admitted in the Covid hospital as a precautionary measure following the alert of the mutated strain of the virus in the uK, he stated. Meanwhile, the Biju Patnaik international Airport (BPiA) has issued an SOP for all the airlines. the carriers have been asked to inform the airport authorities on the arrival of passengers from the UK.
In order to prevent possible Covid resurgence in the Capital, the BMC has set up kiosks at the airport terminal to screen passengers. they are being requested to come forward for voluntary tests in case they develop any symptoms. Arrangements have been made for both antigen and rt-PCr tests. On tuesday, the State government had ordered mandatory 14- day quarantine for people with travel history to the uK in last two weeks. Along with self monitoring, there will be periodic monitoring of the returnees by the State rapid response team.