After India reported its first case of the new XE variant of the coronavirus in Mumbai, Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar announced that the government is mulling imposing new rules for foreign travellers entering the state. These rules will apply to those coming from eight countries — including China, Hong Kong, South Korea, UK and Germany — where the number of cases caused by the XE variant is increasing, the minister said after meeting with the COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee on Monday, April 11. The TAC has recommended measures at the airports for the same.
For travellers from these countries, rules such as thermal screening, strict surveillance, and mandatory quarantine for a period of 7-10 days have been suggested by the committee, Sudhakar said. “The government will soon release guidelines regarding this,” he added, while urging people to continue following COVID-19 precautionary measures, including wearing of masks.
He also urged those who have not yet received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to do so at the earliest. “Some have blamed the government for the COVID-19 wave and shortage of vaccines in the past. Now, there is an adequate supply and we have made several requests to people to take the vaccine. People should take the vaccine and cooperate with the government,” he added.
Though the Union government has not officially confirmed it, a 67-year-old man from Mumbai who travelled to Vadodara in Gujarat was found to be infected with the XE variant in March. "The man had arrived from London on March 6 and came in contact with two British nationals. On March 11, he experienced a mild fever. On March 12, he was tested during his stay in Vadodara and the sample was sent for genome sequencing to the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre," the Maharashtra health minister said, adding that the man was tested positive for the variant the following day.
"The man has been in quarantine at his home in Mumbai since March 20. He is asymptomatic. He had taken two doses (of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine),” minister Rajesh Tope said. He added that this new variant is “not lethal”, and that there is no cause to worry.
With PTI inputs