India wants to increase testing for tourists as new variant of COVID is discovered | Coronavirus pandemic News

Advice to all states to rigorously test and analyze international travelers from South Africa and other “endangered” countries.

India has given advice to all states to rigorously test and analyze international travelers from South Africa and other “endangered” countries as a result of a problem. a new variant of coronavirus, after easing some travel restrictions earlier this month.

The federal health ministry said reports of mutations in the new variant identified as B.1.1.529 had “serious public health implications”.

“He reported that this variant is significant a large number of mutations, and therefore has serious public health consequences in the country, given the recent easing of visa restrictions and the opening of international travel, ”Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan told states on Thursday night.

While some major Asian countries were in a hurry to tighten border controls and reduce passengers, India has yet to issue a notification, a leading government source said.

“The Ministry of Health has not fully examined it,” the source told Reuters news agency, refusing to identify it in accordance with the policy.

The agency said the federal health and foreign ministries have not responded to a request for comment on whether India will ban foreign travelers.

On Friday, the UK Health Safety Agency said the new variant contains an edge protein from the original coronavirus based on COVID-19 vaccines. And existing vaccines can be more effective.

Britain has banned flights from six African countries and asked British travelers returning from those destinations to be quarantined.

India, the second most damaged country in the world by COVID-19, has been released the lowest increase in new cases this year in a year and a half, vaccines and antibodies have risen in large parts of the local population due to previous infections.

The country’s total number of coronavirus cases reached 34.56 million on Friday. India’s daily case has been halved since September and the country reported 10,549 new cases on Friday.

Earlier this month, India identified 10 “endangered” countries, including the UK, China, South Africa and New Zealand, among others. It has opened its borders to a total of 99 countries.

Shares in India fell more than 2 per cent on Friday, as investors shied away from risky assets as a result of the new variant. The losses coincided with large declines in markets across Asia.