Mutant strain: 800 tourists from UK land in Rajasthan

Jaipur: The new corona strain in the UK is keeping the Rajasthan government on edge as over 800 British tourists have entered the 28 districts of the state in the last one week. Tracking them will be a nightmare.

A bulk of these British (333) visitors have arrived in Jaipur which is followed by Jodhpur (73), Ajmer (70), Alwar (48), Udaipur (43), Kota (39), Jhunjhunu (24), Ganganagar (38), Rajsamand (35) and many more, said health officials.

Rajasthan has been victim of tourists spreading the virus. The first Covid case in Rajasthan was an Italian tourist, who had come on a tour to India when his country was in the throes of the pandemic. This first case was reported on March 2, when this 69-year-old Italian tourist who was part of a group of 23 tourists tested positive for Covid-19.

"The screening and sampling work of these UK tourists have started. We are monitoring all those who have arrived from the UK. In three-four days, we shall be able to reach out to every single tourist from the UK who entered the Pink City," said Jaipur's Chief Medical Health Officer Narottam Sharma.

Additional Director (Health) Raviprakash Sharma said they have forwarded the details to district collectors and directed them to ensure isolation and testing of the tourists.

"The department is on its toes and there is no need to panic," he added.

All CMHOs have been instructed to make rapid response teams and survey the British tourists by tracking them to hotels and houses, where there is bed and breakfast options or even house guests.

The idea is to quarantine them at the earliest, the official said.

In 10 months, the Covid numbers have reached 3,03,732 in the state. Till Friday, the toll stood at 2,657.

The active cases are 11,700 while the recovered number is 2,89,375.