A 47-year-old woman, who returned from the UK to Delhi last week and tested positive for COVID-19, has been found to carry the new UK strain of the virus, a Delhi government official told The Hindu. However, despite testing positive, the woman gave officials the slip and travelled to Andhra Pradesh.
Eight persons, who landed at Delhi Airport from the UK last week in four flights were detected to have the new UK strain, the official said.
“Out of the 14 samples of positive people from Delhi sent to the NCDC for genome study, eight have been detected with the new strain of the virus. All of them travelled from the UK last week,” the official said.
Two people who tested positive, including the 47-year-old, had given the officials a slip and travelled out of Delhi.
The official said that the 47-year-old woman could have infected more people with the new strain. “She travelled from Delhi to Andhra Pradesh via train after she tested positive in Delhi. Since she travelled by first class AC, she could have come into contact with fewer number of people, but still she could potentially spread the new strain of the virus,” the official added.
The Delhi government did not officially release any information on the issue on Tuesday. When contacted, the Delhi government spokesperson refused to comment on how many people are found to have the UK strain in the city or details about the 47-year-old woman.
The second person with the new strain was brought back to Delhi from Punjab and admitted to a government hospital in Delhi, where all people from the UK, who test positive for COVID-19 are admitted.
“The woman was not brought back to Delhi as she had travelled far from here. She is admitted in a hospital in Andhra,” the official said.
Last week, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said that the Delhi government “will talk to” the airport authorities about how COVID-19 positive people, who travelled from the UK, got out of the airport against the rules.
