11 of 950 passengers from UK test positive for COVID-19 at Delhi airport: Genestrings

Following increased scrutiny of travellers from the UK due to a new and more infectious strain of the coronavirus, eleven out of 950 passengers who came in four flights from the UK at Indira Gandhi International airport have tested positive for coronavirus.

New Delhi: Eleven out of 950 passengers who came in four flights from the UK at Indira Gandhi International airport have tested positive for coronavirus, Dr Gauri Agarwal, Director, of Genestrings Diagnostic Centre, said on Wednesday.

"Since the directive from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) came, a total of four flights have landed at the airport. Testing of all the passengers was done comprehensively, as per the directions. A total of 950 inbound passengers from London were tested at our lab at Terminal 3, IGI and 11 of them tested positive," Dr Agarwal said.

"These 11 samples have been duly stored in cold storage and sent to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi for further research using genome sequencing. We do not know yet if any of these positive are infected with the new UK strain," she added.

She said they were giving reports within four to six hours of sample collection and these are being handed over to airport officials who are following government directions with reference to contact tracing.

ANI