40 contacts of five recent UK passengers traced, all negative

All have been isolated at home and will be tested on 7th day as per protocol

The BMC has so far traced over three dozen close contacts of five people who recently arrived in the city from the UK and were found to be infected with the new COVID-19 strain. "All are negative and have been isolated at home," said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner of BMC.

Officials had said actors Arbaaz and Sohail Khan had earlier evaded institutional quarantine

Abour 2,600 passengers had come to Mumbai from the UK before December 21, while 181 reached the city afterwards. Of them, 26 were found to be carrying the virus. Their samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for the complex genome sequencing test. Of the five UK strain cases, two have already tested negative for COVID, while reports of the other three are awaited, said officials.

Meanwhile, after actors Arbaaz and Sohail Khan were slapped with a case for evading the protocol, the two have proceeded on institutional quarantine for seven days. "They have been found negative, so we will not trace their high-risk contacts. They will be tested on the 7th day. If they are found negative, they will be allowed to be home-quarantined for the next seven days," said Kakani.

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No. of UK strain patients who've tested negative

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