Over a week after two U.K. returnees from Kozhikode tested positive for the new strain of the novel coronavirus, the Health Department has said no new such cases have been reported in the past few days.
A 36-year-old man and his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter from the district were among the six people who were reported to have been infected with the new strain of the virus on December 4. One of them was undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, and the other had been under home isolation.
A senior official told The Hindu on Tuesday that while the former had recovered from the infection, the lab results of his daughter were awaited.
They had returned on December 22. Those who had been in contact with the U.K. returnees, including their family members, had been under surveillance. Their health condition is reported to be stable.
It has been reported that the new strain is more contagious compared with other existing ones. Studies suggest that it could be 50% to 75% more transmissible than the usual or old ones.
Under scrutiny
Sources said that the department was still keeping tabs on the returnees. The samples of those who test positive for the virus were being sent to the National Institute of Virology, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, to test if the virus strain had undergone mutation. However, for the past few days, no one returning from abroad had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
