Amid mounting fear of the contagious strain of coronavirus in the UK, a 34-year-old Bhubaneswar man who had recently flown in from the UK was hospitalized here after testing positive for the virus.
Prem Chandra Choudhury, Bhubaneswar city commissioner, said the man returned from the UK on December 18. “The man was held in a hospital in Covid according to the central guidelines for institutional isolation. His family members would also be tested, ”said the commissioner.
Officials said the sample from the man returned to the UK will be subjected to sequencing of the S gene or the entire genome at the Institute of Life Sciences in Bhubaneswar. ILS was selected among the 5 institutions in the country for genome sequencing.
Last week, the new SARS-CoV-2 variant was found to be the reason for the rapid rise in Covid-19 cases in south and east England. The variant is called VUI (Variant Under Investigation) year 2020, month 12, variant 01 or B.1.1.7 line and is the result of several mutations in the spike protein of the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, as as well as mutations in other genomic regions of the RNA virus.
The first analysis shows that the variant can more easily spread between people. Studies will be done to see if this variant is associated with changes in symptom severity, antibody response, or the effectiveness of the vaccine.
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Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar has now issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for all airlines. The airlines have been asked to notify the airport authorities of the passengers returning from the UK. A help desk and a rapid antigen test camp are already working for the passengers. Under the new guidelines, passengers with UK travel history must take an RT-PCR test within 14 days if they do not have a negative RT-PCR test report at another domestic airport after arriving in India. From tomorrow the RT-PCR test system will be made available together with the RAT system.