Five UK returnees test Covid-19 positive in Kerala

Raising concerns over the chances of a new mutated variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreading in Kerala, five persons who arrived in Kerala from the UK recently, tested positive for Covid-19.

In view of the Centre’s directives, the samples of all the five are being tested at a lab in Bengaluru to check whether it was the new variant of Covid-19 found in the UK, sources in the state health department said.

All the five were learned to have reached Kerala through Nedumbasserry International Airport in Kochi a few days ago and were under home quarantine. It was in view of the centre’s directive regarding additional surveillance on people who returned from the UK that the health authorities identified the five and were being subjected to retests.