Indore: A 28-year-old man, who had returned to Indore from the United Kingdom on December 18, tested Covid-19 positive on Friday. He was kept in a separate isolation room at the Super Speciality Hospital while health department officials also started his contact tracing.
Dean of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College Dr Sanjay Dixit said the patient’s samples would be sent to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for gene sequencing to learn about the strain of the virus to confirm whether it is the new variant spreading in the UK or not.
According to acting Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Purnima Gadaria, “The 28-year-old man, resident of Juna Risala, returned to Indore from Scotland on December 18. His samples were taken on December 23 as he was in the list of 34 returnees which we received initially. He was tested positive on Friday after which we kept him in isolation at Super Speciality Hospital while his family members were kept institutional quarantine at Sewakunj Hospital.”
His wife has been tested negative even as both had travelled together. “We have traced all the 125 people whose list we received from the government and out of which about 91 are in Indore and rest have moved out to other states or countries. Sampling of all those in Indore has been done till Friday night,” Dr Gadaria said.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Super Speciality Hospital Dr Sumit Shukla said the patient is asymptomatic but he is under sustained observation.
District Covid-19 Nodal Officer Dr Amit Malakar said, “We have been taking samples of all those who reached Indore from the UK. About 101 people are in Indore out of 125 and samples of all were taken. We have received reports of 32 people so far including the one tested positive.”
Dr Malakar said that about 23 people left for other states and they informed the health officials and administration of the respected area about their travel.
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//Those left to other places include
According to the acting CMHO, those who returned to other places include 4 who are in Maharashtra, 1 to Jhansi, 1 to Jaipur, one was the cabin crew and in Delhi, 1 is travelling to Jammu and Kashmir with family while four returned to UK, and 1 didn’t come to India as he didn’t catch his flight.
“People who travelled to Indore had travelled from November 25 to December 21. All of them are kept in isolation and will release only after seven days of isolation even after getting their report negative.
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//Samples would be sent to check mutation of G614 strain
Dean of MGM Medical College Dr Sanjay Dixit said that as the patient had travelled back from the UK in the last 15 days, it is important to check the strain of the virus as a new strain has led to widespread turmoil in the UK as it spreads 70 per cent faster.
HoD of Microbiology Department Dr Anita Mutha said that samples of the patient would be sent for gene sequencing to NCDC, Delhi.
“Tests would be done in Delhi to learn about gene sequencing. The strain of virus prevalent in our country is G614 and if the gene sequencing was found different then it would be a different strain’s virus. Later, a test to learn about the strain would be done, if found different one,” Dr Mutha told Free Press.
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//Team saw resistance in sampling at Juna Risala
A chaos like situation prevailed in Juna Risala area on Friday morning when a team of health department and police reached there for contact tracing. However, the team members saw resistance in sampling and contact tracing as people refused to give their samples and one family had even locked their house from outside to avoid sampling.
Later, health officer Dr Abdullah contacted the local community leaders and pacified people to give their samples.
