Seven persons who recently arrived in Delhi from the UK and tested positive for <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/coronavirus">COVID-19</a>, have been found infected with the new strain of the coronavirus, officials said on Thursday.

Interacting with reporters, earlier in the day, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that a total of 38 people have been found positive since coming to Delhi from the UK recently, and kept in a separate institutional isolation unit on the LNJP Hospital premises.

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"Four such patients have been found infected with the new UK strain of COVID-19. The persons who came in their contact have been also traced and tested, and its not in them. So, only these four cases of new strain in Delhi so far," he said.

"Flights have been stopped and those who came before that are being traced and tested rigorously," he added.

In the evening, a senior official said that a total of seven persons who have recently arrived in Delhi from the UK have been found infected with the new strain of COVID-19.

"Four of these have their addresses in Delhi, while the rest are from other places," he said.

Delhi recorded 574 fresh COVID-19 cases and 13 new fatalities on Thursday, even as the positivity rate slipped to 0.7 per cent, authorities said.

The infection tally in the city mounted to over 6.25 lakh and death toll rose to 10,536, they said, adding over 81,000 tests were conducted the previous day.

"Positivity rate has dropped to 0.8 per cent (on Wednesday) from 15.26 per cent on November 7. About 85 per cent beds are vacant, so the situation has improved a lot. And, so, it had been decided to make LNJP Hospital and GTB Hospital into partial COVID-19 facilities now. All services, including the OPD will be soon resumed gradually," Jain said.

As per the latest health bulletin, an order has been issued to create separate institutional isolation facility in four private hospitals on payment basis, for international passengers who have travelled from or transited through the UK in the past four weeks ( November 25 to December 24) and tested positive.

These facilities are --Max Smart Super Specialty Hospital, Saket; Batra Hospital &amp; Research Centre, Tughlakabad Institutional Area; Fortis Super Specialty Hospital, Vasant Kunj; and Sir Ganga Ram City Hospital, the order said.

On the preparedness for the vaccination, Jain said, work is on to set up 1,000 vaccination centres.

"Also, so far we are aware that the vaccines will be made available freely by the central government," he said.

On the night curfew in Delhi in view of New Year's celebrations, Jain said the COVID-19 situation is under control right now, but huge gatherings could spell trouble again, and therefore, the curfew has been imposed.

The Delhi government has imposed night curfew from 11 pm to 6 am on December 31 and January 1 to avoid large gatherings during New Year celebrations due to COVID-19 and its highly transmissible UK strain.

Amid mounting concerns over the new variant of the COVID-19, the Delhi government had earlier said that people who had arrived here recently from that country, are being traced and tested, while an institutional quarantine facility has been set up separately for positive cases at the LNJP Hospital.

According to the Thursday bulletin, out of the total number of 18,718 beds in COVID hospitals, 16,622 are vacant.

It said that 108 beds in COVID care centres are occupied by persons under quarantine, including travellers who have returned by Vande Bharat Mission and bubble flights. 
The Delhi government had significantly ramped up testing in the past few weeks, with the count on several times crossing the 60,000-mark.

The number of tests done per million, as on Wednesday, was over 4.5 lakh while the total number of tests stood at over 86 lakh.

The bulletin said that 6,09,322 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated so far.

The number of containment zones in Delhi dropped to 4085 on Thursday.

The number of people in home isolation dropped to 2,761 on Thursday.

Seven persons who recently arrived in Delhi from the UK and tested positive for COVID-19, have been found infected with the new strain of the coronavirus, officials said on Thursday.

Seven persons who recently arrived in Delhi from the UK and tested positive for COVID-19, have been found infected with the new strain of the coronavirus, officials said on Thursday. Interacting with reporters, earlier in the day, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that a total of 38 people have been found positive since coming to Delhi from the UK recently, and kept in a separate institutional isolation unit on the LNJP Hospital premises. Watch | "Four such patients have been found infected with the new UK strain of COVID-19. The persons who came in their contact have been also traced and tested, and its not in them. So, only these four cases of new strain in Delhi so far," he said. "Flights have been stopped and those who came before that are being traced and tested rigorously," he added. In the evening, a senior official said that a total of seven persons who have recently arrived in Delhi from the UK have been found infected with the new strain of COVID-19. "Four of these have their addresses in Delhi, while the rest are from other places," he said. Delhi recorded 574 fresh COVID-19 cases and 13 new fatalities on Thursday, even as the positivity rate slipped to 0.7 per cent, authorities said. The infection tally in the city mounted to over 6.25 lakh and death toll rose to 10,536, they said, adding over 81,000 tests were conducted the previous day. "Positivity rate has dropped to 0.8 per cent (on Wednesday) from 15.26 per cent on November 7. About 85 per cent beds are vacant, so the situation has improved a lot. And, so, it had been decided to make LNJP Hospital and GTB Hospital into partial COVID-19 facilities now. All services, including the OPD will be soon resumed gradually," Jain said. As per the latest health bulletin, an order has been issued to create separate institutional isolation facility in four private hospitals on payment basis, for international passengers who have travelled from or transited through the UK in the past four weeks ( November 25 to December 24) and tested positive. These facilities are --Max Smart Super Specialty Hospital, Saket; Batra Hospital & Research Centre, Tughlakabad Institutional Area; Fortis Super Specialty Hospital, Vasant Kunj; and Sir Ganga Ram City Hospital, the order said. On the preparedness for the vaccination, Jain said, work is on to set up 1,000 vaccination centres. "Also, so far we are aware that the vaccines will be made available freely by the central government," he said. On the night curfew in Delhi in view of New Year's celebrations, Jain said the COVID-19 situation is under control right now, but huge gatherings could spell trouble again, and therefore, the curfew has been imposed. The Delhi government has imposed night curfew from 11 pm to 6 am on December 31 and January 1 to avoid large gatherings during New Year celebrations due to COVID-19 and its highly transmissible UK strain. Amid mounting concerns over the new variant of the COVID-19, the Delhi government had earlier said that people who had arrived here recently from that country, are being traced and tested, while an institutional quarantine facility has been set up separately for positive cases at the LNJP Hospital. According to the Thursday bulletin, out of the total number of 18,718 beds in COVID hospitals, 16,622 are vacant. It said that 108 beds in COVID care centres are occupied by persons under quarantine, including travellers who have returned by Vande Bharat Mission and bubble flights. The Delhi government had significantly ramped up testing in the past few weeks, with the count on several times crossing the 60,000-mark. The number of tests done per million, as on Wednesday, was over 4.5 lakh while the total number of tests stood at over 86 lakh. The bulletin said that 6,09,322 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated so far. The number of containment zones in Delhi dropped to 4085 on Thursday. The number of people in home isolation dropped to 2,761 on Thursday.

Delhi: 38 UK returnees found positive for COVID; new strain detected in seven patients 

The new strain of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/coronavirus">novel coronavirus </a>has led to an increase in concerns due to its ability of high transmission.&nbsp;

And a new report has claimed that the mutation is targetting the young people as most of the cases have been reported in people under 20 years of age. &nbsp;

The report by the Imperial College in London also suggests that measures like social distancing that have been taken to curb the spread of Covid-19 do not work against the new variant.&nbsp;

Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/drug-prices-to-hike-in-2021-as-pandemic-jolts-revenues-report-353861">Drug prices to hike in 2021 as pandemic jolts revenues: Report</a>

Earlier, it was believed that the deadly virus targets the young and children, but now it seems young are vulnerable to it and they can spread it to millions more.&nbsp;

In the United Kingdom, the recent estimates show that the variant has infected secondary children the most.

The deadly strain is the most prevalent amongst the young in South Africa and in India a two-year-old and a six-year-old have been infected.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-mutated-wuhan-virus-targets-the-young-353941">WATCH|</a>

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However, Britain's top medical expert Neil Ferguson says that the symptoms to young people will be the same as seen in adults.

"From previous strains of this virus, we know that children were less likely to get infected and certainly much less likely to get symptoms than adults, which is unusual for a respiratory virus in the sense that most respiratory viruses transmit most efficiently in children. So one possibility is this virus has changed in some way, which doesn't particularly target children, just makes children more like adults, a little bit, even in terms of symptoms or viral replication or transmission or both," said Ferguson.&nbsp;

The findings, though, are still in its early days and time will tell whether the new strain will become a new headache in 2021 or not.&nbsp;

The new strain of novel coronavirus has led to an increase in concerns due to its ability of high transmission. And a new report has claimed that the mutation is targetting the young people as most of the cases have been reported in people under 20 years of age.

The new strain of novel coronavirus has led to an increase in concerns due to its ability of high transmission. And a new report has claimed that the mutation is targetting the young people as most of the cases have been reported in people under 20 years of age. The report by the Imperial College in London also suggests that measures like social distancing that have been taken to curb the spread of Covid-19 do not work against the new variant. Also read | Drug prices to hike in 2021 as pandemic jolts revenues: Report Earlier, it was believed that the deadly virus targets the young and children, but now it seems young are vulnerable to it and they can spread it to millions more. In the United Kingdom, the recent estimates show that the variant has infected secondary children the most. The deadly strain is the most prevalent amongst the young in South Africa and in India a two-year-old and a six-year-old have been infected. WATCH| × However, Britain's top medical expert Neil Ferguson says that the symptoms to young people will be the same as seen in adults. "From previous strains of this virus, we know that children were less likely to get infected and certainly much less likely to get symptoms than adults, which is unusual for a respiratory virus in the sense that most respiratory viruses transmit most efficiently in children. So one possibility is this virus has changed in some way, which doesn't particularly target children, just makes children more like adults, a little bit, even in terms of symptoms or viral replication or transmission or both," said Ferguson. The findings, though, are still in its early days and time will tell whether the new strain will become a new headache in 2021 or not.

Does new Covid-19 strain affect young people more?

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Delhi: 38 UK returnees found positive for COVID; new strain detected in seven patients

Does new Covid-19 strain affect young people more?