Karnataka has 7 positive cases of the discovered UK Covid strain

Health and Medical Education Minister Dr Sudhakar stated to the reporters on Wednesday that 4 people from Shivamogga district who returned from UK have been tested positive for the new Covid-19 strain discovered in UK. Though they have seven contacts, three from them have been tested positive for the new strain of Coronavirus. The minister reveled the government will be processing their samples for the genetic sequencing of the virus.

Sudhakar said, “All the seven patients have been admitted to a government hospital and are undergoing treatment there. We have to ascertain now if their contacts are carrying the new strain or the old strain.”

Dr Rajesh Suragihalli, Shivamogga District Health Officer said the three contacts nd the four patients have not been found to be related. He said, “The four patients comprise a couple, a 44-year-old man and his 35-year-old wife, and their two children. One child is a 13-year-old girl and the other is a four-year-old boy. They came to Shivamogga on the morning of December 22 and were in home isolation.”

Dr Suragihalli further added, “The following day when they tested positive, they were shifted to the district hospital and have been there ever since. Their only primary contact has tested negative and is under surveillance. Before they came to Shivamogga they’ve met two families in another district and we’ve shared this information with that district.”

The DHO revealed that overall five passengers arrived from UK to Shivamogga, where all of them have been tested positive for Covid-19. The family of four have been tested positive for the new strain, while the fifth passenger who is Covid-19 positive did not have the mutant strain.

Dr Suragihalli said, “This fifth passenger who was negative for UK strain had nine primary contacts. Out of nine primary contacts, three turned out to be Covid positive. They’re under hospital care. Six of his primary contacts are in institutional quarantine.”

He added, “There’s no relation between the fifth passenger and the four-member family because the former came to Bhadravati in Shivamogga on December 3. He tested positive for Covid after 21 days of arrival in India. We think he got infected locally. Also, he travelled from the United States and went to the UK for a connecting flight. He did not leave the airport there and was there only for a few hours. He tested positive on December 23.” “Though the three primary contacts have no relation with anyone with the UK strain, we have sent their samples to NIMHANS on Tuesday for genetic sequencing,” Dr Suragihalli added.

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