20 passengers from UK test Covid-19 positive after arriving in India

At least 20 passengers arriving in Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai airports in India from the UK, where a new coronavirus strain has sparked alarm, tested positive for Covid-19 between Sunday and Tuesday, officials have said.

Of the 20 that tested positive, six were on a flight that landed in Delhi at 11:30pm on Monday, two on a flight to Kolkata on Sunday night, four who reached Ahmedabad on Tuesday, and the rest eight, including a crew member, in Amritsar of Punjab, who also reached on Tuesday, the officials said.

All of them came by direct Air India flights from London, reports our New Delhi correspondent quoting the officials.

In Kolkata, an official of the West Bengal Health and Family Welfare Department said those sitting near the two passengers who tested positive will be told to be in home isolation for two weeks.

Punjab Minister for Medical Education and Research OP Soni said the eight who tested positive for the infection in Amritsar will be quarantined.

Officials in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad said 358 passengers had arrived in Telangana from the UK over the last week and efforts were on to trace them.

In Mumbai, India's financial hub, no Covid-19 symptomatic person was on board the three flights that came today from London with about 590 passengers on board.

India on Monday suspended all UK-India flights from December 23 to December 31 in view of the emergence of a new coronavirus strain in that country.