Five fliers with new COVID-19 strain isolated in Mumbai

Passengers wait in a queue at the airport. File pic

The new strain of novel Coronavirus, which is said to be 70 per cent more infectious, had sneaked into Mumbai even before the state government announced mandatory quarantine for UK fliers on December 21. Eight passengers from Britain, including five from the city, who arrived between November 25 and December 21, have tested positive for the new variant.

Among the eight passengers confirmed with the new strain, one each are from Mira-Bhayandar, Thane and Pune, besides the five from the city. They are among the 43 international fliers who tested COVID-19 positive on their arrival in the state before December 21, State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Monday.

"Eight passengers from Maharashtra returning from the UK have been diagnosed with the new corona, five from Mumbai, one each from Pune, Thane and Mira Bhayandar. All of them are being segregated and their contact tracing is underway," Tope tweeted.

Passengers at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. File pic/Sameer Markande

Between November 25 to December 21, more than 4,000 passengers had arrived in the state from the UK, the Middle East and Europe. After they were traced and tested, 43 were found to be COVID-19 positive and their samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, for genome sequencing to find the new strain.

Suresh Kakani, the additional commissioner of the BMC, told mid-day on Monday that of the more than 4,000 passengers, nearly 2,600 had arrived in Mumbai. After contacting these passengers and tracing the high-risk contacts, 24 of them tested positive. After December 21, 587 passengers arrived across the state, including 181 from the city and only two of them tested positive for novel Coronavirus. Samples of all the 26 patients were sent to the NIV and the new strain was detected in five of them - both men and women.

Out of the five passengers, four had returned before December 21, Kakani said, adding that there is confusion over one passenger.

"Out of the 26 passengers who tested positive, 14 have already recovered, including two of the five with the new strain. But all of them are still in isolation, as their genome sequencing reports were awaited. Their high-risk, symptomatic contacts are also in isolation and there is no need to panic," said Kakani.

Last month, after Britain reported the new strain, India announced that it was banning all flights from the UK from December 23. The state on December 21 announced a 14-day mandatory quarantine for all passengers from the UK, Europe and the Middle East till the ban takes effect.

As per protocol of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for the new strain, the asymptomatic patient has to be quarantined for 14 days and asymptomatic patients with comorbidities will have to stay indoors for 21 days. Symptomatic patients will undergo treatment and then remain in quarantine. "No need to panic, just take precaution," said Tope.

43
No. of int'l passengers who tested positive

4k
Passengers who came to state from UK (Nov 25 to Dec 21)