Amritsar: Seven passengers and a crew member who arrived here from the United Kingdom (UK) in an Air India flight tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday.
Punjab Minister for Medical Education and Research O P Soni said those who tested positive for the infection will be quarantined. Among the infected passengers are six men and two women, he was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express (TNIE).
The Air India flight from London had landed at Amritsar’s Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport with 250 passengers and 22 crew members at 12.30 am last night.
In Gujarat, four passengers including a British national who arrived in Ahmedabad on Tuesday morning by an Air India flight from London tested positive for COVID-19, a civic official was quoted as saying by TNIE.
It may be recalled that India has suspended all passenger flights from the UK till December 31 in the wake of the mutated variant of coronavirus there.
The Centre has issued detailed guidelines to states to identify and isolate COVID-19 patients who may have arrived from the UK. In a five-page standard operating procedure issued early on Tuesday, the Union ministry of health and family welfare said that:
- Those arriving in India from the UK on Monday-Tuesday will be mandatorily subjected to RT-PCR tests and those testing positive will be quarantined institutionally.
- Samples collected from the positive people will also be subjected to spike gene-based RT-PCR tests in appropriate laboratories to assess whether they carry the same variant of SARS CoV 2, as identified in the UK to be about 70% more infectious.
- In case the report of the sequencing is consistent with the current SARS-CoV-2 virus genome circulating in the country; the ongoing treatment protocol including home isolation or treatment at the facility level as per case severity may be followed.
- But if the genomic sequencing indicates the presence of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 then the patient will continue to remain in a separate isolation unit.
- While necessary treatment as per the existing protocol will be given, the patient will be tested on 14th day, after having tested positive in the initial test.
- In case the sample is found positive on the 14th day, further samples may be taken until the two consecutive samples taken 24 hours apart are tested negative.
The Centre through the Bureau of Immigration has also provided a list of international travellers from the UK and those who have arrived in India via the UK since November 25 and a detailed set of guidelines have been issued on following up with them.
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