Seven people who returned from the United Kingdom to Telangana have tested positive for COVID-19. The state health officials said on Thursday that their swab samples have been sent to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) to ascertain if they carry the new variant.

Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender said that those who have tested positive for coronavirus are being monitored closely. The Health Department is also tracing those who came in contact with these seven persons.

Public Health Director G Srinivas Rao said that, "We have found seven persons who returned from the UK during the past two weeks to be positive for the coronavirus. Their samples were sent to CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) for further tests to check if they have the new strain of the virus."

An official release from Health Minister E Rajender said that so far 1,200 people had come to Telangana from or via the United Kingdom since December 12. Seven out of 846 tested positive and the authorities are trying to trace the people who came in contact with them.

Eatala Rajender urged people to be alert in the view of the warning by health experts that the coronavirus new strain can spread quickly. He appealed to the people to stay safe and asked to taked precautions suggested by the government. He told the people to not to gather at one place to celebrate festivals like Christmas, New Year and Sankranti, etc.

He said that the government is sketching out strategies to vaccinate 70 to 80 lakh people in the first phase and the second dose will be given 28 days after the first dose.

In a review meeting, the minister said that 10,000 health personnel are being trained to administer the vaccine. He further added that, "If they can vaccinate 100 people each, we can administer the vaccine to 10 lakh people every day."

The meeting was also attended by health secretary SAM Rizvi, family welfare commissioner Vakati Karuna, Medical Education Director Ramesh Reddy, Director of Public Health Srinivas Rao, Telangana State Medical Infrastructure Development Corporation MD Chandrasekhar Reddy, and member of expert committee on COVID-19, Gangadhar.