All 29 patients have been kept in isolation at designated health facilities (Representational)
Four cases of the highly contagious mutant strain of the coronavirus were detected in the country on Friday, Union Health Ministry has informed. The total of those affected by the strain - first found in the United Kingdom - has reached 29, it added.
Out of the four cases, three were found in a Bengaluru lab, while one was detected in a lab in Hyderabad, sources said.
So far, 10 cases have been detected by labs in Delhi, 10 by a Bengaluru lab, one in West Bengal, three in Hyderabad and five by the National Institute of Virology, Pune.
All 29 patients have been kept in isolation at designated health facilities.
The new strain, said to be more contagious than the other strains of the coronavirus, has so far been detected in Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.
The strain -- which was first detected in September and confirmed by the UK authorities in December -- was first found in India earlier this week in travellers who returned from the European country.
To control the spread of the new strain, the centre in December temporarily banned flights from the UK. It has also started a genome sequencing project involving 10 laboratories across the country.
Several states have also announced night curfews and other restrictions in view of the new strain.
India added 20,035 coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, placing its overall number at 1.02 crore cases. With 256 new fatalities, the death count reached 1,48,994.