After Maharashtra, Gujarat reports case of XE variant of Covid-19

Additional Chief Secretary of Health department Manoj Aggarwal on Saturday confirmed that the XE variant has been detected in a Mumbai resident who was visiting Gotri, Vadodara. The 67-year old man, who had tested positive for Covid-19 on March 12, was treated in home isolation, said Aggarwal.

A press note issued by the state government added that the 67-year old has comorbid conditions.

“Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre detected the XE variant in the patient 12 days ago. The sample was sent for confirmation as per INSACOG guidelines, to a Kolkata laboratory (DBT- National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani). The confirmation report of the XE variant was received Friday night,” said Aggarwal.
Officials of Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) confirmed that the case had been detected from a sample collected in Vadodara on March 12.

Dr Devesh Patel, Medical Officer for Health (VMC), told The Sunday Express, “The patient was a 67-year-old male from Mumbai, who, along with his wife, was visiting Vadodara. They had checked into a hotel on arrival and the man had developed symptoms such as fever. They took a Covid-19 test and when the result came positive, they returned to Mumbai and were in strict home quarantine. He did not meet anyone in Vadodara.”

On Saturday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) traced the close contacts of the 67-year-old man. Both of his wife and domestic help have tested negative.

“He is completely healthy. He didn’t have any symptoms after March 11. Both his wife and domestic help who were tested in close contact tracing have been found negative of the virus,” said Dr Mangala Gomare, executive health officer, BMC.

Meanwhile, speaking to media persons about GNLU, which has emerged as on the Covid-19 hotspot that in the past two days, Aggarwal said that samples of students who have tested positive have been sent for genome sequencing and that the health department is keeping a watch on the situation.

“Neighbouring colleges too have been sensitised to act immediately if they see any symptoms among their students and inform the health department of the same,” said Aggarwal.

Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation’s health teams continued surveillance activity on the GNLU campus on Saturday for the second consecutive day, after a total of 34 students tested positive on April 7 and 8. The GMC had conducted 167 Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) as part of its surveillance activity on Friday and another 69 RATs on Saturday. GNLU was declared as a containment zone on April 8.

GNLU in an official statement said, “All those who have tested positive are on the road to recovery with no severe symptoms. But for one student who is hospitalised, all others are isolated in the campus guest house. They are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. One student, who is hospitalised, is reportedly stable. The doctor-in-attendance expects to discharge him from the hospital in a day or so.”

From active cases hovering in the range of 64-76 cases each day the past week, the latest GNLU cases has pushed up the state tally of active cases as of Saturday to 114.

On Saturday, 34 new cases were reported across the state of which 23 cases were notified by the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, as per the daily health bulletin issued by the state health department.

(With inputs from ENS, Mumbai)