68 UK returnees found Covid positive in Maharashtra but not with new strain

The samples of those testing positive were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune to ascertain the type of virus they are infected with.

None of the international passengers to have arrived in Maharashtra recently were found infected with the new coronavirus strain seen in the United Kingdom. Till Saturday, 68 passengers who returned from the UK between November 25 and December 22 have tested positive for Covid 19 but not with the new strain.

4,474 UK returnees from UK who had landed between November 15 and December 23 in Maharashtra have been traced. (REUTERS)

“4,474 UK returnees who had landed between November 15 and December 23 have been traced till date. RT-PCR tests have been conducted on 3,278 of them 68 samples were found positive but they are yet to be found infected with the new variant,” said Maharashtra surveillance office Pradip Awate.

The samples of those testing positive were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune to ascertain the type of virus they are infected with. Results for six of the 68 covid-19 positive passengers are awaited.

29 of these Covid-19 positive travellers are from Mumbai, 13 are from Pune, seven from Thane, nine from Nagpur, two each from Nashik, Aurangabad, Raigad, Buldhana and one each from Nanded and Washim.

The state government has put the administration on alert after the discovery of the new mutant of Covid-19, believed to be much more infectious than all the previous strains.

The state government has also started tracing contacts of those who tested positive.

“We have traced 426 people who have come in contact with the UK returnees found positive with Covid-19 infection and 26 of them have tested positive,” Dr Awate said.