New strain Covid cases go up to 90 in India: Govt

The number of people infected with the new United Kingdom-linked variant of coronavirus has gone up to 90 in India, the Union health ministry said on Saturday.

These 90 cases include the 82 announced by the ministry till Friday.

"The total number of cases infected with the new strain of the novel coronavirus, first reported in the UK, now stands at 90," the ministry said.

All these persons have been kept in single-room isolation in designated healthcare facilities by respective state governments, the ministry had earlier said.

Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine. Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others, while genome sequencing on other specimens is going on, the ministry said.

The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing and dispatch of samples to designated labs.

The presence of the new UK-variant has already been reported by several countries including Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.