Five passengers from UK test COVID-19 positive at Delhi airport

Picture used for representational purpose only

Five passengers from the UK who arrived here at Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday night have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, sources told IANS on Tuesday.

These passengers have been sent to Sardar Patel Covid Centre in Chattarpur.

A total of 250 passengers who arrived last night and have undergone the mandatory RT-PCR test at the airport. While 5 tested positive, rest have tested negative for Covid-19.

Sources told IANS that as many as 470 passengers from the UK have landed IGI till now in two flights.

The first flight carrying 250 passengers landed around 10.30 p.m. on Monday while the second flight carrying 220 passengers landed at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

The passengers of the second flight are being tested.

A passenger, who arrived in Chennai from London, has tested positive for Covid-19, health department officials said on Tuesday, adding that the test sample has been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune to check whether it is the new mutant variant of the virus.

The passenger has been transferred to the Kings Institute Hospital and is currently under quarantine. No other details about the infected person was immediately available.

India on Monday announced that it has temporarily banned flights from the UK to the country after the emergence of a new and highly infectious strain of the coronavirus in Britain.

The suspension of flights from the UK will come into effect from December 22 midnight and will continue till December 31, the government added.

Further, the ministry also added that as a measure of abundant precaution, passengers arriving from the UK in all transit flights (flights that have taken off or flights which are reaching India before 22nd Dec at 23.59 hrs) should be subject to mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival at the airports concerned.

Also, seven-day isolation is advisable for passengers from the UK who test in RT-PCR and they will be medically monitored by the states/UTs.

Till now, the rules stated that if an international passenger had a Covid-19-negative certificate from a test done 72 hours prior to the journey, he or she need not undergo Covid-19 test again on arrival at the Indian airport.

Countries around the world have begun banning flights and travellers from Britain as London said on Sunday the spread of a more-infectious new coronavirus strain was now "out of control".

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