E-Paper
8 UK returnees have new strain of Covid, 7 of them isolated in Lok Nayak Hospital
The 2,000-bed Lok Nayak Hospital was designated as the nodal centre for isolation of people who are suspected to have the new variant of the viral infection — those who have either returned from the UK between November 25 and December 21 or those who have tested positive after coming in contact with UK returnees.
Eight of the 11 passengers who had tested positive for Covid-19 at Delhi’s India Gandhi International airport have the new UK variant of Sars-CoV2, which potentially spreads 70% faster according to experts.
Of the eight, seven are admitted to a special isolation ward of Delhi government-run Lok Nayak hospital.
The eighth person infected with the new variant of the virus was a woman, who escaped while being transported from Delhi airport to Lok Nayak Hospital, and travelled to Andhra Pradesh.
“The eight people who were found to have the new variant of the infection were among those who tested positive at the airport when the passengers from UK were being tested for two days. The genome sequencing of the other samples is yet to be done,” said a senior official from the Delhi government’s health department.
All eight are either Indians or Persons of Indian origin, the official said.
“Some of the people who tested positive had also gone to other places and then returned to the hospital,” the official said. On the second day of mandatory testing, another man — along with the woman from Andhra Pradesh — had given the authorities a slip and travelled to Ludhiana. He has been brought back to Lok Nayak Hospital by the authorities.
Read more| Possible that Covid-19 UK strain entered India before, says AIIMS director
The Indian government had suspended air travel from the United Kingdom from December 23 onwards after a new variant of Sar-CoV-2 was found to be circulating in London and other parts of that country. 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.
None of the people found to have the new variant had severe symptoms of the disease. “All the patients have mild symptoms; none of them are in need of oxygen support. They are all isolated in separate rooms and will be monitored till the infectious stage is over,” said a senior doctor from the hospital.
The 2,000-bed Lok Nayak Hospital was designated as the nodal centre for isolation of people who are suspected to have the new variant of the viral infection — those who have either returned from the UK between November 25 and December 21 or those who have tested positive after coming in contact with UK returnees.
The hospital has set up a special ward for UK returnees and their contacts, who are each allotted separate rooms within the ward. So far, the hospital has at least 35 people admitted in this special ward. The genome sequencing of many others are awaited.
Delhi’s revenue minister Kailash Gahlot said, “The government will leave no stones unturned in ensuring testing, tracing and isolation to prevent possible spread of the new variant of the virus.”
Read more| New Covid-19 strain detected in Kolkata man after return from the UK
“Rigorous contact tracing is being done in compliance with the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the Union ministry of health,” said Delhi’s chief secretary Vijay Dev.
The SOP of the Union health ministry says that once a UK-returned person tests Covid-19 positive, all of his or her contacts are to be isolated in institutional quarantine. “The contacts of all UK returned Covid-19 patients who have been identified so far are already lodged in a government-run isolation facility in Chhatarpur or a paid facility at a hotel in Aerocity,” said an official, on condition of anonymity.
Around 14,000 passengers arrived at the Delhi airport between November 25 and December 23, of which around 1,500 are Delhi residents. However, HT reported on Wednesday, hundreds of them have so far evaded the city government’s outreach programme through incorrect and inadequate contact tracing details.
