Following an appeal from the district administration, many U.K. returnees came to the COVID-19 Swab Collection Centre at the Town Hall here on Thursday to give their swab samples for the mandatory COVID-19 test.
District Vector Borne Diseases Control Officer Chidambara, who oversaw the testing, said 26 returnees turned up. The counter functioned from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will also function on Friday to facilitate testing of those who could not make it on Thursday.
The COVID-19 War Room had informed 119 returnees out of 137 to undergo the RT-PCR test compulsorily. Eighteen others had tested negative.
“Whoever has not given their swabs would be asked to do so by Friday. We shall ensure all are tested as mandated by the government in the wake of new strain of SARS-CoV2 found in the United Kingdom,” he said.
The samples were sent separately to the lab of Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMCRI) which has been carrying out the PCR tests since beginning. Though the Town Hall health team handles samples of all persons, the samples of the U.K. returnees had been separated and sent to the lab for tests. The results would be also listed separately.
The results are expected late in the night on Thursday. If anyone is found to have tested positive, the samples would be sent to the National Institute of Virology lab at the NIMHANs in Bengaluru for genetic sequencing. Such patients would be either remain in home quarantine or hospitalised based on the nature of the infection.
The genetic sequencing was expected to help in ascertaining the nature of infection – whether it’s a new strain of virus or not.
Dr. Chidambara told The Hindu that the protocol says the swabs from the positive patients are supposed to undergo genetic sequencing if the new strain had to be confirmed. The results from NIMHANS may take 24 hours from the time of receiving the swabs.
Those who had returned to India travelling through U.K. also turned up at the Town Hall to give their swabs. “Such persons came on their own. Their names were not in the list of passengers returned from U.K. They volunteered for the test though some of them returned nearly 15-20 days ago. If at all they test positive, it might not be the new strain,” he added.
