India releases list of ‘at risk’ countries after getting new covid version

The countries currently on India’s ‘at risk’ list are European countries, including the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.

This comes a day after the government asked the principal health secretaries of all state governments to ensure “rigorous screening and testing” of all international passengers landing in India from ‘at risk’ countries in view of the emergence of the new COVID-19 version B.1.1. was asked to do. .529.

“It has now been reported by the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) that several cases of a COVID-19 variant B.1.1529 have been reported in Botswana, South Africa and Hong Kong,” Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in his letter. states.

“This variant is reported to have a significantly higher number of mutations, and thus, has serious public health implications for the country in view of the recent relaxed visa restrictions and opening up of international travel,” he said.

The health secretary further said, it is therefore imperative that all international travelers traveling to and from these countries be subjected to “rigorous screening and testing”.

He said that the contacts of these international travelers should also be closely tracked and tested as per the guidelines issued by the Union Health Ministry.

According to officials, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) is closely monitoring the new version and its presence Not yet detected in the country.

It has been reported to be found in samples from South Africa, Israel, Hong Kong and Belgium.

Many countries have been quick to reimpose travel restrictions in light of this development.

The UK banned flights from South Africa and five other southern African countries effective Friday afternoon and announced that anyone who has recently arrived from those countries will be asked to take a coronavirus test.

Germany said its flight ban could be implemented from Friday night itself.

Italy’s health ministry also announced measures to ban entry into seven southern African countries – South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini – over the past 14 days. The Netherlands and the Czech Republic planned similar measures.

The Japanese government announced that Japanese citizens traveling from Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho will be quarantined in government-dedicated accommodation for 10 days and undergo COVID-19 tests on the third, sixth and tenth days .