New Delhi: Four more cases of the highly contagious mutant strain of the coronavirus were detected in the country on Friday, the Union Health Ministry has informed.
Of the four new cases, three were found in a Bengaluru lab, while one was detected in a lab in Hyderabad, the ministry said.
With this, the total of those affected by the strain, which was first found in the United Kingdom in September, has reached 29, NDTV reported.
Of the 29 cases of the mutated strain, 10 were detected at NIMHANS Bengaluru, eight at NCDC New Delhi, five at National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune, three at CCMB Hyderabad, two at Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi, and one case at NIBMG Kalyani in West Bengal.
To control the spread of this mutated variant of the virus, authorities have started comprehensive contact tracing for co-travellers, family contacts and others.
According to government data, nearly 33,000 passengers from the UK disembarked at various Indian airports between November 25 and December 23 midnight, India Today reported.
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