GUWAHATI: A new strain of Coronavirus detected in Britain has sparked fears across the globe.
The strain is said to be up to 70 per cent more transmissible than the original, which has already forced several countries to seal their borders and ban travel with UK.
Earlier, it was reported that five out of 266 passengers & crew members of a flight which arrived at Delhi airport from London last night tested positive for COVID-19.
Their samples have been sent to NCDC for research and they have been sent to care centre, reported ANI.
But what is this new strain of coronavirus?
The new variant, which UK scientists have named “VUI – 202012/01” includes a genetic mutation in the “spike” protein that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus uses to infect human cells.
According to scientists, these changes can lead to a quicker spread of Covid-19 between people.
When and where was it discovered?
According to a BBC report, the new variant was first detected in September in the United Kingdom. The virus carrying this mutation has so far caused 1,100 new infections in 60 local authority areas, according to reports quoting UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Where has it been reported and is it more severe?
The new strain of virus has been found in United Kingdom, Italy and France so far.
How has the world responded?
As of Monday, the United Kingdom stood shut off from the rest of Europe after several nations decided to close borders over fears of the new coronavirus strain. France became the first to close its border with the UK for 48 hours.
Apart from France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Italy, Netherlands, India, Belgium, Greece, Russia, Hong Kong, Israel, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and El Salvador have banned flights to and from the UK. Saudi Arabia, notably, has suspended all international flights over the fear of the new strain of coronavirus.
What did the Indian government say?
India too has joined over two dozen countries in banning inbound travel from the UK. The government also said that as a measure of abundant precaution, passengers arriving from the UK in all transit flights — those that have taken off or flights which are reaching India before 11:59 pm on December 22 — would be subject to mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival at the respective airports.
COVID-19 in its first phase was caused by a novel virus now called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; formerly called 2019-nCoV), which was first identified amid an outbreak of respiratory illness cases in Wuhan City, China. Globally, the cases reached 77,793,186 leading to 1,710,96 deaths. India recorded a total of 10,075,422 cases and the death toll reached 146,145 as of 22nd December.
