Twenty five people who returned to India from the United Kingdom have tested positive for the new UK variant genome of SARS-CoV-2 so far, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday after genome sequencing. "Four new cases found by NIV, Pune and one new case sequenced in IGIB, Delhi. Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on.All 25 persons are in physical isolation at health facilities", said the Union Ministry of Health. The presence of the new UK Variant has already been reported by Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore. Besides, standard operating protocol for states and UTs to tackle the mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2 was issued on December 22.

Source: Mint December 31, 2020 05:44 UTC