The Punjab government has issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for epidemiological surveillance and response in the context of new variant SARS-CoV-2 virus detected in United Kingdom.
Giving details, Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said that instructions have been issued to all deputy commissioners and civil surgeons regarding surveillance and testing of passengers travelling from or transiting through United Kingdom. He said that 262 travellers, who arrived from UK from December 21 to 23 were kept under observation at the airport at a separate area after taking their samples for RTPCR testing. Out of them, eight were positive and were isolated as per SOPs.
Telling about SOP, he said that it describes the activities to be undertaken at the point of entry and in the community for all international passengers who have travelled from or transited through UK in the past 4 weeks (from 25 November to 23 December 2020). Any reference to testing in this SOP implies RT-PCR testing only.
He said that a new variant of SARS- COV 2 virus has been reported by the Government of United Kingdom (UK) to World Health Organisation (WHO). This new variant is estimated by European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) to be more transmissible and affecting younger population. This variant is defined by a set of 17 changes or mutations. One of the most significant is an N 501Y mutation in the spike of protein that the virus uses to blind to the human ACE2 receptor. Changes in this part of the spike protein may result in the virus becoming more infectious and spreading more easily between people.
