News of Bahrain
World29 December 20202 min read

India finds six cases of new coronavirus variant in UK arrivals

Agencies | Bengaluru The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com India has found six people who returned from Britain in recent weeks infected with a more infectious strain of the coronavirus that has prompted a wave of panic and border closures around the world. All six pati

Editorial Team Legacy

Published 29 December 2020, 8:00 · Updated 21:29

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India finds six cases of new coronavirus variant in UK arrivals

Agencies | Bengaluru

The Daily Tribune –www.newsofbahrain.com

India has found six people who returned from Britain in recent weeks infected with a more infectious strain of the coronavirus that has prompted a wave of panic and border closures around the world.

All six patients have been kept in isolation, the health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that their fellow travelers were being tracked down.

“Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine,” the ministry said.

India has suspended all flights from Britain until the end of the month but about 33,000 passengers had flown in from late November, before the ban came into place, the ministry said, according to Reuters.

Of those arrivals, 114 people were found positive for the coronavirus and their samples were being checked for the new variant, which has been detected across parts of Europe and Asia, the ministry said.

India on Tuesday reported 16,432 new cases of the virus, taking its total up to 10.22 million confirmed infections and 148,153 deaths.

The country has the second-highest caseload in the world, behind only the United States. Health authorities expect to start a vaccination drive for some 300 million people early next month.

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