18 UK returnees test +ve in Kerela & Karnataka; now tested for new strain at NIV Pune

Dec. 27: In a shocking development, atleast 8 persons who returned from UK to Kerela and 10 more to Karnataka were detected as COVID-19 positive. Now their samples were sent for genomic analysis at the National Institute of Virology, Pune to test for the new strain of coronavirus. Once the report of genomic analysis are out, the doctors will get to know whether it is the new strain.

In order to detect the presence of the new strain of coronavirus genome sequencing tests are bring done. Chief of India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) informed that 24 hours time is needed to trace the mutant strain of the new coronavirus.

Infact, six labs across India are set to conduct the genome sequencing tests to find out the presence of the new mutant strain of the coronavirus. The samples of passengers who tested COVID positive after arriving from the UK are being sent to these labs.