THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the wake of identification of mutant variant of Covid-19 among six people, the state will follow the facility isolation protocol for new cases reported from passengers arriving from the United Kingdom when flight services resume.Though the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has directed states to quarantine people testing positive for the new strain of Covid-19 in single-rooms in hospitals, all returnees except one are under home isolation. The flight service between the UK and India is expected to resume on January 8, if the temporary ban is not extended.
So far, 41 UK returnees have tested Covid positive in the state, including the two cases reported on Tuesday. At the national level 20 more people were found to be positive for the new strain, in the tests conducted at the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium Labs, a consortium of 10 labs including NIV, on Tuesday.
Health officials said that the six people detected with new virus strain have completed their quarantine period. “All of them were asymptomatic. One person in Kozhikode is still in hospital,” said a senior officer.“The new isolation protocol will be effective only for new passengers.” Though the new virus strain is considered more contagious, its ability to transmit ceases after the quarantine period of 14 days.
Two passengers had arrived on December 13 and four people came on December 22. Their genome sequencing results came from National Institute of Virology, Pune, only on January 4. Contact tracing of passengers near the home proved to be easier as all the six have followed Covid-19 protocol and have observed home quarantine.
2 UK returnees test Covid positive, mutant strain to be confirmed
T’Puram: The state on Tuesday recorded 5,615 new cases and 4,922 recoveries. The deaths that were confirmed as due to the virus were 24. At the same time, two more UK returnees tested positive in the state. With this, a total of 41 UK returnees were tested positive for Covid-19 in the state. However, those who were found to be having the mutant strain were six. The newly-infected also include 44 health workers.