With eight of the 609 UK returnees, who were tracked andtested in Uttar Pradesh, testing positive to Covid-19, the Yogi Adityanathgovernment has pressed the panic button. Out of the eight positive patients,one has been reported missing.
Even though the strain of the virus is yet to beidentified, the state government is not taking any chances.
State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directedofficials to maintain the effective system of contact tracing and surveillance.He said that the arrangements of the Covid-19 hospitals should be up-to-dateand senior doctors should take regular rounds of Covid-19 wards.
Adequate availability of medicines, medical equipmentsand oxygen, including backup, should be ensured in Covid-19 hospitals and thetesting work should be conducted with full capacity. He has further asked thenodal officers to visit districts and monitor the situation.
It may be recalled that the Centre had provided a list of1,655 persons who had returned from or via the UK to the state. "Of these,1,087 have been tracked. 609 have been tested of whom eight were found to bepositive," said additional chief secretary, health and family welfare,Amit Mohan Prasad.
He said that the samples of these persons had been sentfor genome sequencing."It is not clear whether the old or the mutantstrain caused Covid-19 in them. Therefore, their samples have been sent forgenome sequencing. The report is expected soon," he stated.
According to health sources, three of these patients arefrom Meerut while two each are from Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagardistricts. Those from Meerut had travelled to London and came back to India onDecember 14. The travel history of others has not been revealed.
One of the city residents with a travel history to the UKbetween December 9 and 22 is yet to be traced, even four days after theidentification.
"One traveller could not be traced as his mobilephone is constantly switched off. The residential address given by him indocuments reads Kathauta in Lucknow but the exact location is vague," anofficer said.
Sources confirmed that the samples had been sent toCSIR's Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi.
Amit Mohan Prasad also said that seven of the eightpositive persons were undergoing treatment in the state at the specialinternational ward set up by the state health department while one was undertreatment in New Delhi's Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital. Officials areworried over the lack of support from some of these returnees who have switchedoff their phones.
"Several districts have reported that the returneeshave switched off their phones which is not good. The state government isgetting them tested in their individual interest besides ensuring thewell-being of everyone else. They must come forward and cooperate in publicinterest," said Navneet Sehgal, Additional Chief Secretary, informationand public relations department.
Meanwhile, 1,102 new Covid cases took the state's tallyto 5,81,080 on Saturday. Of these, 5,56,912 have recovered while 8,293 have succumbedto the infection. Health officials said that the state's recovery rate hadreached 95.8 per cent.
A scrutiny by district health officers found that 22travellers had given their permanent addresses in Lucknow but were found to beliving in other districts of the state.