New Delhi: Delhi has extended the "14-day quarantine" order on passengers arriving from the United Kingdom till January 31. The quarantine was placed following the spread of a highly infectious strain of the virus in the UK. India has so far logged 109 cases of the UK strain of the virus. Seven of them were detected in the last 24 hours.
The Arvind Kejriwal government had revised its quarantine rules last week, saying all passengers should undergo seven days' institutional quarantine -- and an equal period home isolation -- even if they test negative for Covid with RT-PCR tests that gives current results.
The UK strain of virus is said to be 70 per cent more contagious.
Over the last 24 hours, the UK had logged 1,564 deaths, taking the total to 84,767 -- among the highest in Europe alongside Italy.
The new strain has already reached Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.
Initially, the Centre suspended flight services between the UK and India on December 23, which went on till January 7.
To put brakes on the mutant strain once it was detected in the country, the Centre has embarked on a huge genome sequencing project involving 10 laboratories across the country. On the list are those of the 33,000 passengers, who tested positive for coronavirus on their return from UK.
The government is also tracing and testing passengers who reached the country from abroad over 14 days in December.
Over the last 24 hours, India registered 16,946 fresh Covid cases, taking the total to 1.05 crore, the Health Ministry data showed this morning. Another 198 people have died, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,51,727.