1 primary contact of UK returnee tests positive for new virus strain

Bengaluru: One primary contact of a UK returnee was among 10 people who tested positive for the new strain of the novel coronavirus and all of them are undergoing treatment, Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar said here on Saturday.

”Ten people have so far been confirmed with the new variant of coronavirus infection… nine of them are returnees from the UK, while one is a contact, the mother of one them. All of them are undergoing treatment and are without any serious health condition. They will recover soon,” he said.

The Minister told reporters here that so far 32 people who returned from UK and 10 of their contacts- a total of 42- have been confirmed with COVID-19 infection during RT-PCR test.

Their samples were sent for genomic sequencing and 10 among them were confirmed to be infected by the new variant of the virus.

Seeking to allay fears, the minister said there was no need to worry.

”There are only 10 cases of new variant virus infection in the State… also the number of COVID positive cases in Karnataka are declining while recoveries are increasing. There are only about 10,000 active cases in the State. If the vaccine comes quickly, it will help further,” he added.