UK woman returnee to Andhra infected by new Covid variant

However, her son who travelled with her has tested negative.

Andhra's Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare Katamneni Bhaskar, however, clarified that there is no evidence of expansion of UK strain in the state. There is no spread of UK strain in AP from her, he said, appealing to public not to panic and not to believe rumours as situation is being continuously monitored by the government.

The official said 1,406 people out of 1,423 who came from the UK to Andhra Pradesh have been traced and a search is on for the 17 remaining.

"All 1,406 persons underwent RT-PCR test and 12 of them tested positive. Further, 6,364 primary contacts of these 1,406 people were tested and 12 of them found infected," he said.

In all, 24 people tested positive for Covid-19. Their samples were sent to Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad for genome sequencing. The UK strain was found in the sample of the woman belonging to Rajahmundry. Reports of the remaining 23 sample are yet to be received from CCMB, the official added.