At a time when the prevalence of COVID-19 in the State was coming down gradually with not more than 500 new infections being reported per day, the new strain of novel coronavirus has brought back the initial days of responding to COVID in February.
The State’s response to the COVID pandemic began by identifying, tracking and isolating foreign returnees at their homes. The ward and village volunteer system in addition to the network of ANMs and ASHA workers came in handy for the purpose. The reported spread of the new strain of the virus has now called for identifying, tracking and isolating UK returnees and their contacts.
Though the State now has the country’s best testing facilities, it is again forced to send samples to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad (CCMB) and the National Institute of Virology, Pune (NIV) to identify the new strain of virus among the infected persons.
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As of December 29, one UK returnee, a woman who allegedly escaped from New Delhi to native Rajahmundry in East Godavari district along with her son, tested positive for the UK strain of the virus. Also, 24 UK returnees tested positive as of Tuesday and their samples were sent for tests to identify the strain. As many as 1,423 UK returnees were identified and 1,406 were traced. Also, 6,364 contacts of the UK returnees were identified and all their samples were being tested.
Meanwhile, the Health Department officials announced that there were signs of the spread of the new strain of the virus in the State. The woman who tested positive for the UK strain, however, did not spread the virus to her son and another person who were her close contacts.
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While the new strain has put the official machinery on their toes, for the public it has made no difference. The public activity is in full swing at places like malls, shopping complexes and restaurants.