Mumbai: The new coronavirus strain emerged in the UK is making its mark around the world. In the wake of new coronavirus strain, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to conduct a survey of all passengers who have come from the UK in the past one month. The survey will help detect if any they carry symptoms of the new strain, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said.
As per the guidelines from the central government, the survey will cover all passengers landing at the international airports in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, between November 25 and December 23, he said.
"We have already received a list of the passengers who landed in Mumbai from UK from the airport health authorities and it has been sent to all districts and municipal corporations for further action," Tope told media persons.
Officials concerned in district and civic bodies shall check them for symptoms and conduct RT-PCR Covid tests on them. The samples of those detected positive or infected, shall be sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune for genetic testing and ascertain if it matches the new Covid-19 virus strain detected in the UK.
Besides, all those who are found negative shall be followed up for the next 28 days since their arrival in India, the minister said. As an added precaution, the contacts or close associates of any found positive shall be traced and all of them shall be sent to institutional quarantine, Tope said. During the quarantine period, they shall be tested with RT-PCR between the 5th-10th day after they have have come in contact with any positive patients.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra government has already imposed night curfew in the urban limits of the state as well as put strict guidelines of institutional quarantine for those arriving from European or Middle-East countries.
