The Telangana government has set up a special surveillance mechanism to tackle the spread of a more virulent SARS-CoV-2 virus sequenced in the UK. A tipline 040-24651119 has also been installed for travellers from the UK, said Dr. G. Srinivasa Rao, Director of Public Health at a crowded press conference in a small room in Hyderabad on Tuesday. “About 358 travellers have come from the UK and they are in the process of being identified and will be asked to quarantine and observe symptoms,” said Dr Rao who said all passengers from UK are being tested with RT-PCR but all of them have tested negative.“There is no need to panic about the variant. It is spreading rapidly that’s the only difference.
The morbidity rate is not higher due to this virus variant,” informed Dr. Rao who said the pandemic is under control in Telangana.
“Till now the variant has not been sequenced in India though three national scientific institutions are working on it. So, we can say the variant of the SARS-CoV2 has not appeared in India,” said Dr Ramesh Reddy, Director of Medical Education.
Both the health officials struck a note of caution about the forthcoming festive season. “Celebrate with your family. Don’t invite strangers and people you don’t know. Vulnerable members of your family might be affected in a serious way later,” said Dr. Rao who termed masks as the best defence against the virus.
The standard operating procedure announced by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare dictates that the: “State governments shall ensure that all passengers travelling from or transiting through airports in UK and disembarking in India would be subjected to RT-PCR test on arrival. In case of a positive sample, it is recommended that spike gene-based RT-PCR test should also be performed by an appropriate laboratory.”
