'Govt alert, no reason to panic': Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on UK Coronavirus strain

In a press brief, Harsh Vardhan said, "At this time, I would say, don't get hassled with imaginary situations, imaginary talks and imaginary panic. The government is fully alert."

"In the last one year, as you all have seen, we took all necessary measures to ensure the safety of people. If you ask me, there's no reason to panic so much."

Harsh Vardhan said this as Canada, Saudi Arabia and various European countries have banned flights from the UK over the new Coronavirus strain.

His comment came in the backdrop of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's request to the Centre to ban the flights from the UK.

Kejriwal tweeted, "New mutation of corona virus has emerged in UK, which is a super-spreader. I urge central govt to ban all flights from UK immediately."

On Saturday, the UK government practically locked down parts of the country, including London, after admitting that more than half of all new COVID-19 cases had been caused by a mutated, more infectious coronavirus strain.

"The patient and their partner returned from the United Kingdom several days ago, landing in Rome's Fiumicino airport. They are now isolated and have observed, together with family and close contacts, all procedures prescribed by the health authorities," the ministry said in a press release.

According to the communication, the genome of the UK coronavirus strain has been established by experts of the Celio military hospital in Rome.