Health Ministry informed that cases of new variants of Covid-19 have been found in India this week. The government is monitoring the situation and may impose suitable flight restrictions and other screening measures to tackle the situation.
- Four cases reported of the South African variant and one case of the Brazilian variant
- Cases reported in returnees from these countries and local transmission not yet seen
- Flight restrictions may be imposed for flights incoming from these countries
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Tuesday that a total of 192 Covid-19 cases of the new variants of Coronavirushave been found in India. Four of them are of the variant emerging in South Africa and one case of the Brazilian variant. However, local transmissions of these South African and Brazilian variants have not been reported thus far. The remaining cases are all of the United Kingdom variants.
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Although, the ICMR officials observed that no mortality has been reported so far in the cases that were infected by the UK, South Africa, and Brazil variant. The South African variant was reported in January amongst four returnees from African countries Angola and Tanzania. While the Brazilian variant was found in the first week of February in a person who returned from the South American country recently.
Globally, the South African strain has spread to over 44 countries while the Brazilian strain in 15 countries. Both these variants are reported to be more deadly mutations with increased transmission risks.
In response to whether any flight restrictions would be imposed by India on flights coming from Brazil and South Africa to India, the government officials said that 100% RT-PCR tests might be initiated for all passengers on such flights as was mandated for the UK earlier.
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However, the challenge here is that there are no direct flights from these two countries and the Health and Civil Aviation Ministry are therefore working out the nitty-gritty of how to carry out such screening exercise.
