New mutation not affecting severity of coronavirus: Niti Aayog's V K Paul

Strain not found in India yet, need to be vigilant

The new strain of coronavirus can be called a ‘superspreader’ of sorts since it has increased its transmissibility potential, but hasn't affected the severity or fatality of the disease, V K Paul, member-health, Niti Aayog said on Tuesday. 

Referring to the new mutation in the coronavirus found in the UK, Paul said while it does not affect hospitalisation or seriousness of the disease, its tendency to affect more people is a concern in itself. “We have not detected this mutation. Our own deep assessment is that we do not need to panic...We have to be more vigilant but that is also because we still are fighting the pandemic,” he said. 

He said that the new strain will not have any impact on the potential vaccine or the treatment protocol. 

Health ministry has also issued detailed protocols for passengers who arrived from or transited through the UK in the past for weeks from November 25 to December 23, 2020.

All passengers disembarking in India will be subject to a mandatory RT-PCR test and also a spike gene-based RT-PCR test if they test positive. 

Samples of such travellers will be sent to the national institute of virology in Pune for genome sequencing, to assess if they have caught the new strain of Covid-19 infection. 

If so, then the patient will continue to be in a separate isolation facility coordinated by the respective state health authorities. If the sequencing is consistent with the current strain of the virus going around in the country, then, the ongoing treatment protocol including home isolation or treatment at facility level as per case severity will be followed. 

Those who are found negative on testing with RT-PCR at the airport would be advised quarantine at home. 

The State-wise passenger manifest of the flights from UK landing at various International airports in India for the past four weeks will also be conveyed by the Bureau of Immigration to state governments and integrated disease surveillance programme. 

The list of international travelers who arrived in India in the last two weeks will be shared with the respective state or district surveillance officer who will  ensure daily follow up of passengers under observation for 28 days starting from date of arrival.

All the community contacts without any exception of those travelers who have tested positive would be subjected to institutional quarantine in separate quarantine centers and would be tested between 5-10th day.