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Delhi extends 14-day quarantine order till January 31 for UK returnees
The extension of this order comes on the back of a set of rules announced by the Delhi government on Friday last week to keep a tight check on import of the new variant of coronavirus through people returning from virus-hit UK.
The Delhi government on Thursday extended its order pertaining to a 14-day quarantine for passengers arriving in Delhi from the United Kingdom till January 31 in the wake of a new variant of the coronavirus.
The extension of this order comes on the back of a set of rules announced by the Delhi government on Friday last week to keep a tight check on import of the new variant of coronavirus through people returning from virus-hit UK.
The protocol was to be strictly followed in Delhi on a trial basis for a week till January 14.
In the order, the Delhi government has decided to mandatorily test all the travellers arriving from the UK through self-paid RT-PCR tests.
“All those arriving from the UK, who test positive will be isolated in an isolation facility. Negative ones will be taken to a quarantine facility for 7 days followed by 7 days home quarantine,” chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted.
He had further said that this has been done “to protect Delhiites from exposure to virus from UK”.
“As a matter of abundant precaution, in view of the increased transmissibility of the new variant, it is decided that all travellers coming from the UK to India would be mandatorily subjected to self-paid RT-PCR tests on arrival at the airport. Those who are found positive shall be isolated in an institutional isolation facility in a separate (isolation) unit as per existing laid down protocol. Those who are found negative shall be kept in compulsory institutional quarantine for a period of seven days followed by seven days of home quarantine,” read the order.
The new variant of coronavirus disease – B.1.1.7 – has been dubbed as highly infectious by scientists and medical experts as the UK government has confirmed that the infection rates have increased faster than expected in the affected areas where the new strain has been circulating and stronger measures are required to get the virus under control.
Delhi on Thursday reported 340 new cases of coronavirus taking the total count of cases to 6,31,249.
So far, a total of 109 cases from the UK strain of coronavirus have been reported from across the country.
In a proactive approach to fight the virus outbreak, the Delhi government on Thursday announced a Covid-19 vaccination drive that is scheduled to start on January 16 and will be done across 81 locations in the national capital.
"So far, we have received 2,74,000 doses of vaccine from the Centre. Each person will be administered two doses and Centre provides 10 per cent extra vaccine, taking damage into account. So the 2,74,000 doses will be sufficient for around 1,20,000 health workers," Kejriwal said.
