13 people in Delhi have mutant variant of Covid-19, eight are city residents

Until December 30, eight UK returnees with the new mutant strain were being treated in Delhi of which four were residents of the national Capital.

A total of 13 people in Delhi so far have been detected with the new UK variant of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Of the 13, eight are Delhi residents, even as all of them are currently getting treated at the Lok Nayak Hospital, senior government officials said on Tuesday.

The tally in Delhi increased, after 20 more people from across the country tested positive for the new strain of the virus on Tuesday. (Praful Gangurde/ HT file photo)

The tally in Delhi increased, after 20 more people from across the country tested positive for the new strain of the virus on Tuesday, taking the total number of UK returnees having tested positive for the mutant virus in the country to 58.

Until December 30, eight UK returnees with the new mutant strain were being treated in Delhi of which four were residents of the national Capital.

“As on Tuesday, a total of 13 people have been detected with the new UK strain of which eight are Delhi residents. The numbers may incrementally increasing as more results of genome sequencing arrive. Contacts of these eight people are being traced. They are being isolated at the institutional quarantine facility at Terapanth Bhawan in south Delhi’s Chhatarpur area. Some of them have also opted for the paid facility set up in Aloft hotel, Aerocity,” said a senior government official, on condition of anonymity.

The new variant – which has 23 mutations, including one on the receptor binding protein on the spike used by the virus to enter the human cells – is thought to be 70% more transmissible, raising concerns of super-spreading events.

However, doctors monitoring these patients have not found severe illnesses because of the new variant.

From November 25 to December 23, 2020, about 33,000 passengers disembarked at various Indian airports from the UK.

All these passengers are being tracked and subjected by states to reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests to detect Covid-19.

The Indian government had suspended flights from the United Kingdom from December 23 onwards after a new variant of Sars-CoV-2 was found to be circulating in London and other parts of that country.