Pune, December 24: The Pune district administration has received a list of 504 passengers who returned from the UK in the last 28 days, an official said. After a new variant of coronavirus was detected in the UK, the Union government had asked for tracing of passengers who arrived in India from the UK between November 25 and December 23.

"We have received a communication from the state government to trace the passengers who arrived in the district from the UK between November 25 and December 23. "We have received a list of 504 passengers who will be traced and their RT-PCR test will be conducted," said an official from the district health department. New Coronavirus Strain: Existing COVID-19 Vaccines Likely to be Effective Against Mutant Variant, Says Dr Shekhar Mande.

The samples of those found positive for infection will be sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) for genome sequencing to check if the virus is the same as the new strain, as per the Maharashtra government's guidelines.

For those who have already tested positive after returning from the UK, their swab samples will be taken again and sent to the NIV for genome sequencing.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)