Uttarakhand health department asks CMOs to trace UK returnees for Covid-19 variant

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], December 27 (ANI): Uttarakhand health department has written to all the 13 Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) of the state regarding containment of UK variant of coronavirus and asked them to trace the foreign returnees and monitor their health for 28 days.
JC Pandey, the nodal officer at State Covid Control Room said that so far 227 people have been identified who have returned to Uttarakhand from the UK since November 25 and they will be kept in isolation.
"Of the 227 people who have come to the state from the UK since November 25, 138 are from Dehradun, 32 from Nainital, 25 from Udham Singh Nagar and 18 from Haridwar and rest are from other districts of the states. All the CMOs have been asked to isolate these people," Pandey told ANI.
"One woman who returned from the UK to Kashipur in Udham Singh Nagar district has tested positive for COVID-19. It is yet to be confirmed whether it is a UK variant of the coronavirus," he added.
The Uttarakhand health department in a letter to CMOs has asked to ensure to test the all UK returnees since November 25.
"UK RETURN' must be mentioned on the sample container box and the list of samples must be pasted on the outside. A separate list of the samples (mentioning UK RETURN) must be sent through email to the lab and State Covid Control Room before sending the samples. All such Samples must be packed in a separate container," it said.
The state health department has also advised that all primary contacts of such positive patients must be tested and should be placed in institutional quarantine.
The letter also enclosed the detailed guidelines issued by Union Health Ministry according to which all passengers travelling from or transiting through airports in the UK and disembarking in India would be subjected to RT-PCR test on arrival. In the case of a positive sample, it is recommended that spike gene-based RT-PCR test should also be performed by an appropriate laboratory.
"Passengers testing positive shall be isolated in an institutional isolation facility in a separate (isolation) unit coordinated by the respective State Health Authorities. They would earmark specific facilities for such isolation and treatment. Necessary action to send the samples to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune or any other appropriate lab for genomic sequencing will be initiated at the facility level," Union Health Ministry has stated.
Those who are found negative on testing with RT-PCR at the airport would be advised
quarantine at home, it said. (ANI)