UK mutated strain not seen in India, Health ministry issues SoPs

The government has maintained that Mutated strain of Covid-19 found in UK not seen in India so far.  Addressing a press conference on the Covid situation in India, Niti Aayog member (health) and part of the government's special taskforce of Covid, Dr VK Paul, on Tuesday said, while the mutated strain has a higher transmissibility, it does not influence the severity of the disease.There is no cause for concern, no need to panic, as for now. We need to stay vigilant, Dr Paul said. 

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, "This mutated strain does not increase changes of death. Case fatality and need for hospitalisation is also not affected by this mutation. The government is keeping a close watch. We have studied 1,000 viruses to check mutations and have not found such a structure in any of those in India." Speaking about the prevailing Covid-19 situation in India, the health ministry today said the country is witnessing less than 3 lakh active cases after a period of 163 days. Bhushan said, "The number of daily new cases is less than 20,000 after 173 days. So far, 16.3 crore Covid-19 tests have been conducted in India."

Meanwhile, the Union health ministry on Tuesday issued a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for passengers arriving from the United Kingdom (UK). As per the SOPs, ll international travellers will be required to declare their travel history of the last 14 days and fill up a self-declaration form to be screened for Covid-19. State governments should ensure that passengers are subjected to Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests on arrival, and in case of a positive sample, it is recommended that spike bases RT-PCR tests should be performed. Passengers that are found to be positive shall be isolated in an institutional isolation facility in a separate isolation unit coordinated by the respective state health authorities, the ministry added. Those passengers who test negative through the RT-PCR method will be advised home quarantine.