BENGALURU: Just when Bengalureans were heaving a sigh of relief with the reduction in daily Covid-19 cases in the city, three returnees from the UK , who are residents of the city, have tested positive for the new strain of SARS-CoV2. The Health and Family Welfare media bulletin on Monday says that 27 UK returnees in the state had tested positive for Covid-19 and their samples were sent for genomic sequencing to testing labs.
Among the 27, three have been declared positive for the UK variant through genomic testing. Among them are a 35-year-old woman and her six-year-old daughter from Vasanthapura (Ward 197), and another UK returnee, a 33-year-old male resident of JP Nagar.
Bommanahalli Zonal Joint Commissioner Ramakrishna said, “As per our information, the mother and child are doing well. They have two primary contacts and 33 secondary contacts, whose swabs have been taken. We are waiting for their swab results. The symptoms noticed were cough, runny nose and fever.” The mother and daughter are admitted in Victoria Hospital. According to him, all the contacts have been asked to quarantine themselves in the apartments they are staying in.
“Regular monitoring by the BBMP health officers is carried out. We have turned the apartment itself into an institutional quarantine facility. All samples have been taken and results are awaited.”Munish Moudgil, in-charge of state Covid war room, also confirmed that the 33-year-old male from JP Nagar is stable and is doing fine.
361 UK returnees still untraceable: Govt data
“There are four contacts of this patient and all of them have tested negative. They are in quarantine,” Munish Moudgil said.The patient has been admitted to Apollo Hospital on Bannerghatta Road since December 23 and is asymptomatic. He has a one-year-old son who has tested negative. Health Minister K Sudhakar, however, said there is no need for a lockdown and asked the people to be optimistic, especially since a vaccine is expected to arrive in January-end. “Three out 27 people who tested positive from among the 1,614 samples sent to NIMHANS, have shown the UK strain in Karnataka.
All of them have been isolated at hospitals and their primary and secondary contacts were traced. We will take necessary steps in terms of isolation and treatment. We have the list of co-passengers that these 26 people travelled with from the civil aviation ministry. We will monitor them, track their primary and secondary contacts and get them tested,” said Sudhakar.
Containment measures are being put in place in the shortest time possible and the Home department is tracking UK returnees who have switched off their phones and action will be taken against them, he said.
As of Monday’s health bulletin, out of 2,127 returnees from the UK, 1,766 have been tested, of which 27 are positive, 1,384 are negative and the results of 355 samples are awaited. This leaves 361 others who seem to remain untraceable. Meanwhile, experts said it is important for people not to let their guard down as the virus is said to be fast-spreading.
Dr Suri Raju V, Medical Director, Regal Multi-specialty Hospital, said, “Preliminary analysis suggests that the UK variant is significantly more transmissible. With the new variant, for every 10 persons infected, there could be four more infections, and is 70% more transmissible than the original virus. This means more people can become seriously ill from Covid-19.”
He said the government could be forced to apply severe restrictions for longer periods and abandon the idea of relaxation of measures if there is a new strain in the community that spreads more. “The majority of the population has now lowered their guard and can be seen roaming out without masks or with the mask on the chin. This should stop,” he said.