Gujarat: Four UK returnees detected with new coronavirus strain

Four persons who recently returned to Gujarat from the United Kingdom (UK) have tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus, a top state health department official said on Saturday.

Results of the 15 samples that had tested positive for coronavirus on arrival in Ahmedabad from the UK are currently pending with the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, the official added.

"All the passengers who had reached Ahmedabad from the UK were screened, and the samples of those who had tested positive for coronavirus were sent to the NIV. We have received intimation that the UK strain of coronavirus has been detected in four such cases," Principal Secretary (Health), Jayanti Ravi told reporters.

All these four patients are already kept in isolation at Ahmedabad's SVP Hospital as per the Centre's guidelines.

"Results of the 15 samples tested positive for coronavirus on arrival in Ahmedabad are pending with the NIV," Ravi added.

The government of India took cognisance of the reports of virus reported from the UK and put in place a proactive and preventive strategy to detect and contain the mutant variant, the Union Health ministry had said.

This strategy includes temporary suspension of all flights coming from England with effect from the midnight of December23 till January 7 and mandatory testing of all UK- returned air passengers through RT-PCR test.