Four UK Returnees Untraceable: BMC

Bhubaneswar: In a latest update on UK strain of COVID-19, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation( BMC) on Wednesday said of the 62 UK returnees who have come to areas under the municipal corporation limits, 4 are yet to be traced.

Efforts are on to trace them by this evening, it added.

BMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary informed that the test of 50 returnees has been done and the remaining will undergo the test today. If any sample is tested positive, it will be sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for genome sequencing to ascertain the presence of the mutant strain. 

Meanwhile, BMC is has formed six teams to trace elusive UK returnees.

Also Read: 3-uk-returnees-in-bhubaneswar-test-covid-positive-samples-sent-to-pune/

A total of 181 travellers had returned to Odisha between November 31 and December 22. While 141 UK returnees have already been traced, efforts are on to trace others.

On Tuesday, samples of three UK returnees in the city were to the NIV for genome sequencing after they tested positive for COVID-19.

Chaudhary said in the first phase, the BMC had received a list of 28 UK returnees and three of them tested positive for the virus.