After Pakistan, India confirms cases of new COVID-19 variant

NEW DELHI – India on Tuesday reported six confirmed cases of a new coronavirus strain first detected in the United Kingdom earlier this year.

All the infected persons had returned from the UK and they have been isolated while the officials have initiated contact-tracing close contacts and family members. 

India is the second country in the South Asia after Pakistan to report the cases of the more contagious variant of the COVID-19. 

India last week suspended flights to and from the UK because of the concerns over the spread of new strain of the virus. 

If situation deteriorates, it can wreck havoc on already pressurized health system of India, which is the second most COVID-19 hit country after the US. It has more than 10 million confirmed cases. 

Indian has made it mandatory for all passengers coming from the UK to undergo RT-PCR tests at all airports.

The country received around 33,000 passengers from the UK over the past month. Of those, 114 were found to be positive for coronavirus - their samples have been sent to ten labs for genome sequencing, said an official statement.

A number of countries including Canada, Japan, Spain, Sweden and France have all also confirmed the presence of the new strain.

Three cases of a mutant strain of SARS-CoV-2, which first surfaced in the UK, have been detected in Pakistan’s Sindh province.

The new SARS-CoV-2 variant ID B.1.1.7, researchers believe, may have originated in a patient who had a long-running infection.

The new strain is believed to be 70 percent more contagious, but doctors have said there is no reason yet to believe that it is more lethal or will not be controlled by a vaccine.

Pakistan, Iran, India, and Saudi Arabia including other countries have imposed travel bans on the United Kingdom after the British government officially announced the detection of the new strain of the novel virus.