A total of 29 people in the country have now tested positive for the new UK variant of Covid-19, with four added to the list on Friday, the Union health ministry has said. Among them, 20 people were found positive on Tuesday and Wednesday. Five were tested positive on Thursday and four on Friday.Among these 29 cases, eight have been detected in NCDC, New Delhi, two in IGIB New Delhi, five in NIV Pune, three in CCMB Hyderabad, 10 in NIMHANS Bengaluru and one in NIBMG Kalyani, the ministry said.
The new strain, first detected in the UK in December, has spread fresh concerns across the world with most of the countries shutting their airspace to countries where the new strain has been found. India too has stopped flights from the UK till January 7. The new strain, which is believed to be more contagious and is potent to infect young people with no other health complications, forced several states to reimpose fresh restrictions. Apart from India, countries which have reported the new variant include Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore. China has also reported the first positive case yesterday, where the coronavirus first emerged late last year.