One UK returned person has tested positive for Covid-19 in Tripura and his samples are being tested for the new mutant coronavirus strain, named B1.1.1.7.
This has given rise to fear of the new mutant strain reaching the state.
This was confirmed by Siddhartha Shiv Jaisawal, mission director of the Tripura National Health Mission (NHM).
Jaiswal said that samples of the person testing positive were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune on Friday to detect if the new mutant strain of Covid-19 was present in his body.
It may take two days for the confirmatory results to arrive.
The ministry of health and family affairs have taken a slew of measures in view of a new mutant strain of the virus emerging in the UK.
This particular strain is 70 per cent more transmissible and is spreading rampantly in the UK.
Meanwhile, health officials till Friday evening identified 40 people who have come into the contact with the person testing Covid-19 positive.
The mission director also said that health workers have also collected samples of another person from West Tripura district, who had returned from the UK recently.
“We have collected the samples of a man in West Tripura district, who returned from the UK about two weeks ago and his test results are awaited,” said an official of the state health department on condition of anonymity.
“The man and his family have been kept at home in isolation,” he said.
The ministry of civil aviation has suspended all flights from India to the UK from December 22 to December 31.
Any passenger passing through the UK will have to undergo the rapid-antigen test and will have to remain in institutional quarantine or home isolation for seven days if they test positive for Covid-19.