In an act of irrationality during a time when prevention and protection is the only cure, UK returnees landing in the state displayed their reckless behaviour by providing wrong contact details to the airport authorities. As such, over 279 passengers have become untraceable, according to Telangana health officials’ statement on Saturday.
With this, the state registered 59 new cases taking the nation’s tally of recently caught infections to 119.
Lab reports are expected to come in by Monday that will expose the sample results of the type of virus being carried by the positive UK returnees as the fear of the new variant increases in the world.
Telangana reported 3 new cases of the UK strain leading to a total of 21. Other states of the country have their respective numbers as Goa reported 16 cases, Maharashtra recorded 14 new infections plus the older 3, Kerala saw 3 new cases making the figure reach 8, and Uttar Pradesh witnessed 8 covid-19 positive patients from the UK returnees batch.
The place of contraction of the virus was unclear for one of the passengers as he tested positive in Nashik but was tested negative on the Mumbai airport when he landed from the UK on December 13th.
Karnataka reported one positive passenger hailing from Mysore while Andhra Pradesh recorded 6 new infections.
Out of the 279 untraceable UK returnees, state officials say, 92 are residents of the neighbouring Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and 184 provided fake details to authorities in order to get rid of the official customs that follow for every UK returnee in wake of the new variant of coronavirus, which is known to be 70% more contagious.
Telangana’s director for public health, Dr. G Srinivasa Rao said, “We have forwarded their details to their respective state governments so that they can help trace these returnees. A search is on to find the rest.”
He assured positive passengers to remain vigilant of their condition but not fret about it as proper use of masks, social distancing and regular hand washing can offer the best help to them and those around them.
From the 14 cases of Maharashtra, 4 are reported from Thane, 3 from Mumbai, 2 from Pune and 1 each from Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Nanded, Aurangabad and Raigad.
UP additional chief secretary (health and family welfare) Amit Mohan Prasad said the Central government enlisted 1,655 people who came to the state from the British country or through a connecting flight, touching the land of UK.
On Saturday, the secretary said, “Of these, 1,087 have been tracked, while 609 have been tested and eight were found to be positive.”
