Mutant strain: Over 800 tourists from UK land in Rajasthan in a week

The new Coronavirus strain in the UK is keeping the Rajasthan government on edge as over 800 British tourists have entered the 28 districts of the state in the last one week Tracking them will be a nightmare health authorities saidA bulk of these British 333 visitors have arrived in Jaipur which is followed by Jodhpur 73 Ajmer 70 Alwar 48 Udaipur 43 Kota 39 Jhunjhunu 24 Ganganagar 38 Rajsamand 35 and many more said health officialsRajasthan has been victim of tourists spreading the virus The first COVID19 case in Rajasthan was an Italian tourist who had come on a tour to India when his country was in the throes of the pandemic This first case was reported on March 2 when a 69yearold Italian tourist who was part of a group of 23 tourists tested positive for COVID19The screening and sampling work of these UK tourists have started We are monitoring all those who have arrived from the UK In threefour days we shall be able to reach out to every single tourist from the UK who entered the Pink City said Jaipurs Chief Medical Health Officer Narottam SharmaUK returnees in KtakaKarnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Saturday said 14 people who have come to the state from the UK so far have tested positive for COVID19 and their samples have been sent for genetic sequencing to find whether it is a new strain of virus that has infected themA total of 2500 people have come from the UK of them 1638 have been tested According to information I received last night 14 of them have tested positive All the 14 samples have been sent to NIMHANS for genetic sequencing he saidThe Minister however said information regarding the genetic sequencing test reports as per the PMOs message will be sent to the Indian Council of Medical Research which is likely to share the information with the public in a day or twoKerala impacted tooEight people who recently returned from the UK to Kerala have tested positive for Coronavirus and their samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology Pune for genomic analysisHealth Minister KK Shailaja said on Saturday that samples of eight returnees were found positive for COVID19 and their samples have been sent to NIV for further testsFollowing this development it has been decided to subject the returnees to more tests she added Surveillance at the four international airports in the state have been further strengthenedOxford vaccine for IndiaWhile preparations are underway for a possible vaccinerollout by January the Indian drug regulator is looking at the UK which sources believe may give its nod to the Oxford COVID19 vaccine next week before deciding on giving emergency use authorisation to the Serum Institute that is manufacturing the shots thereOnce the UK drug regulator gives its approval to the Oxford vaccine the expert committee on COVID19 at the CDSCO will hold its meeting and thoroughly review the safety and immunogenicity data from the clinical evaluations conducted abroad and in India before granting any emergency authorisation for the vaccine official sources saidThe process of granting emergency use approval for Bharat Biotechs COVID19 vaccine Covaxin may take time as its phase 3 trials are still underway while Pfizer is yet to make a presentation Going by this Oxford vaccine Covishield is likely to be the first to be rolled out in India a source said