New COVID strain: UK returnee tests positive in Maharashtra's Aurangabad

AURANGABAD: A woman, who had returned to Aurangabad in Maharashtra from the UK in the last few weeks, has tested coronavirus positive, officials said on Saturday.

The woman is among the 44 persons who arrived in the district from the UK after November 25, they said.

"Eleven of these UK returnees underwent RT-PCR test, in which the woman was found infected with COVID-19. She is asymptomatic," Aurangabad Municipal Corporation's (AMC) health officer Dr Neeta Padalkar said.

"Her sample has been sent to the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) for analysis. It will clear whether the patient contracted the infection in England or after her arrival in Aurangabad," she said.

The authorities have received a list of total 44 passengers, who returned to Aurangabad from the UK, a district official said in a statement issued late on Friday night.

"Of these 44 passengers, 13 are yet to be traced and their details are shared with the police department. Five of the passengers belong to other districts," the official said.

Out of the 11 UK returnees, who underwent the RT-PCR test, nine have tested negative for the infection, while report of another one is awaited, the official added.

After a new variant of coronavirus was detected in the UK, the Union government had instructed the authorities to trace the passengers who arrived in India from that country between November 25 and December 23.

The new strain of coronavirus found in Britain is reportedly spreading fast and is said to be highly infectious.

Till Friday night, a total of 45,289 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Aurangabad district, where the death toll has reached 1,196, officials said.

So far, 43,552 patients have recovered from the infection and there are 541 active cases in the district.