India plans to conduct genome sequencing on international travellers to test for mutant Covid variant

"It is easy to suppress the virus in the starting. Once the transmission is too widespread, it is hard to control," Dr VK Paul, a member of Niti Aayog, said during the health ministry briefing this evening.

Even as India banned flights to and from the UK up on Dec 21, six cases of new coronavirus mutant strain were reported among people who returned from the UK recently.

The mutant strain, which is believed to be 70 per cent more infectious, was first reported from the UK.

The new coronavirus variant, which infects more easily but does not appear to be more deadly or pose any concerns for vaccines, has already been detected in several countries, including Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa and Australia.

In India, the samples are currently being tested at the labs of INSACOG -- the genomic surveillance consortium formed to detect the presence of different strains of coronavirus in India.

Eventually, 10 laboratories across the country will be carrying out genome sequencing, the government informed.

The list includes NIBMG Kolkata, ILS Bhubaneswar, NIV Pune, CCS Pune, CCMB Hyderabad, CDFD Hyderabad, InSTEM Bengaluru, NIMHANS Bengaluru, IGIB Delhi and NCDC Delhi.

Meanwhile, India continued to report a declining trend in the COVID-19 cases as 16,432 instances have been registered in the past 24 hours.

In the past 24 hours, 252 new deaths related to the virus have been reported.

There are 268581 active cases in the country right now.