Covid-19: Maharashtra government to trace UK fliers

Around 3,000 people have estimated to have arrived in the state from the UK in the past four weeks

In view of the new strain of Covid-19 found in the United Kingdom (UK) and other countries, Maharashtra government on Wednesday asked the administration to trace and test air travellers arrived in the state from the UK in last one month from November 25 to December 23, for genomic sequencing and ascertaining if they match the new variant found there. Around 3,000 people have estimated to have arrived in the state from the UK in the past four weeks.

Passengers from the UK arrive at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai,on Tuesday. (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

Meanwhile, the state registered less than 4,000 cases for the seventh day in a row. With 3,913 new cases, the state tally touched 1,906,371, while the toll stands at 48,969 after 93 deaths were added on Wednesday.

The state officials said they are taking all precautions to prevent the spread of the new variants of Covid-19.

The respective district administrations have been provided with a list of travellers arrived in Maharashtra from the UK over the last four weeks. “The travellers found with the positive report will be institutionally quarantined. The samples of positive patients will be sent to Pune’s National Institute for Virology for genomic sequencing,” said state health minister Rajesh Tope.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has appealed to citizens in Mumbai who have returned from the UK between November 25 till date to contact the ward control room of their areas in case they develop any Covid like symptoms and also get a preliminary medical check-up from a family doctor or nearest municipal health centre. They have also asked the UK returns to go through a Covid-19 test.

Suresk Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, said there could be an estimated 3, 000 UK returnees across Maharashtra, 30% of which will be in Mumbai. “We are preparing a list of all such returnees in the city and will contact them through ward war rooms,” he said.

In the backdrop of the new strain of Covid-19 found in these countries, the state government has already announced measures to arrest the spread of the new variant of the virus. It has already stopped flights from the UK and enforced compulsory quarantine for passengers arriving from Europe, Middle East and South Africa.

On Wednesday, the government extended the night curfew, imposed between December 22 and January 5, to the rural parts of the state on Wednesday, two days after it was announced only for the urban areas. The revised notification issued by chief secretary Sanjay Kumar says that if the district collector of any district is of the view that imposition of the said night curfew in his respective district will reduce the transmission of the virus, he is hereby authorised to do so, after obtaining permission for the same from the chief secretary.

The decision of imposing the night curfew was taken as a precautionary measure after a new strain of Covid-19 was found in the United Kingdom and a few other countries. The government has however allowed the entertainment and amusement parks, tourist places outside the containment zones to operate. Similarly, water sports at various places too, have been allowed in the state. The operators will have to follow the standard operating procedure to be issued by the tourism department of the state government.

Mumbai reported 745 cases and 14 deaths on Wednesday taking the tally to 2,88,561 and toll to 11,033. Pune, Nashik and Nagpur districts are among the highest contributors of fresh infections with 621, 394 and 330 cases respectively.

State health department officials have expressed the sigh of relief as the cases continue to remain under control. Against the projection of the rise in the cases in December, the cases continue to be below 4,000 over the last few days.

The experts, however, have a word of caution as they expect a surge in cases, in the second week of January. “The risk of the second wave is still there, though it would not be as high as it had been after the Ganpati festival in Festival. We still expect a surge in cases 15 days after Christmas festival. I do not think the new strain found in the United Kingdom, European and other countries will have any impact here as we have already started taking precautions. The district administrations have already been told to take due measures to contain the spread because of the crowding,” said Dr Avinash Supe, who heads the state-appointed death audit committee.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray during his meeting with the district collectors and commissioners on Tuesday has directed to increase the testing and tracing to contain the spread. The testing rate over the last 10 days has dropped to a daily average of 57,602 tests from a daily average of 82,071 tests in the last ten days in November.

“The positivity rate in the state has dropped which means the number of cases has overalled dropped. The tests are done on the symptomatic people and since their number is low, the tests too, have dropped,” said Dr Supe.

State’s case facility rate stands at 2.57%, while the recovery rate has reached to 94.51%. The active cases in the state are 54,573 after 7620 patients were discharged on Wednesday.