Alarmed, UP also launches manhunt to trace 568 UK returnees

LUCKNOW: The health department has launched a manhunt across Uttar Pradesh to trace 568 people who returned from the United Kingdom after December 9, but could not be contacted as their mobile phones were either switched off or out of network coverage area.

Officials had prepared a list of 1,655 passengers who returned from the UK after December 9, on the basis of the information provided by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). “Subsequently, the health department traced 1,087 people whose samples were sent for laboratory test,” said officials.

Till Monday, the samples of 10 UK returnees were found positive for Covid. These were sent to the ICMR laboratory in Delhi for genome sequencing to check if the Covid strain was the same as the one discovered in the UK. The report of the ICMR laboratory was awaited, said Alok Kumar, principal secretary, health and family welfare.

The 10 people who tested positive were residents of Meerut, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar and Bareilly. All these had been put in isolation wards and their close contacts were also under surveillance, he said.

After the detection of six cases of the mutant strain of coronavirus (first reported in

UK) in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune laboratories on Tuesday, the UP government has sounded a fresh alert asking health officials to trace the 568 UK returnees.

The new variant of the SarsCoV-2 in the United Kingdom is believed to spread faster than its previous strains.

Director general, health, Dr DS Negi said the names and addresses of the UK returnees collected from airlines operators and passport offices had been sent to the chief medical officers (CMO) of various districts. The CMOs were directed to constitute teams to trace the missing people.

The district health departments were also directed to take assistance of the local police and administration in tracing the UK returnees, he said.

The CMOs were also directed to collect samples of UK returnees and their close contacts for laboratory test. The state government had already issued order that people who returned from UK and other European countries will have to stay in home quarantine for 28 days. “If they have any symptom of coronavirus infection, they have to alert the local authorities for sample test,” said Negi.

In view of the threat of new variant of Sars-CoV-2, the state health department directed all district administrations to enforce Covid protocol strictly. “People should move with their face covered with mask, home isolation of the infected people should be monitored strictly and contact-tracing drive should be organized effectively, even if Covid cases are on decline in UP,” he added.