The Delhi government on Thursday extended its order pertaining to 14-day quarantine for passengers arriving in the national capital from the United Kingdom (UK) till January 31.
The order to send UK returnees to a quarantine facility for seven days followed by a seven-day home quarantine, was passed earlier this month after India resumed flight operations with the UK after a brief halt necessitated by the mutated virus strain.
"To protect Delhiites from exposure to virus from UK, Del govt takes imp decisions. All those arriving from UK, who test positive will be isolated in an isolation facility. Negative ones will be taken to a quarantine facility for 7 days followed by 7 days home quarantine," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said earlier.
Meanwhile, the number of people who have tested positive for the new UK variant of COVID-19 in the country has climbed to 109, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. "The total number of persons found infected with the new UK variant genome stands at 109 today," the ministry said.
All these people have been kept in single room isolation in designated healthcare facilities by respective state governments, the ministry had said earlier.
Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine. Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others. Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on, the ministry said.
The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing and dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs.
The presence of the new UK variant has already been reported by several countries including Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.
(With PTI inputs)
