Chennai, December 30: A total of 40 people, half of them returnees from the U.K and the rest their contacts, have tested positive for COVID-19 and are being treated in separate isolation wards, the government said here on Wednesday.

While the primary virus cases from UK increased to 20 from 19 on Tuesday, the number of their contacts turning positive during the same time mounted to 20 from 16, a bulletin said. India Reports New Strain of Mutant COVID-19 Virus, 6 UK Returnees Found Positive For UK Variant Genome in Bengaluru, Hyderabad & Pune.

Approximately 2,300 passengers travelled from the UK recently, out of whom 20 tested positive, 1,708 negative and the results of 167 were awaited, it said, adding that "tracing of other passengers is underway."

Though 1,700 plus passengers tested negative, as a matter of extra precaution, their 1,041 close contacts were traced and tested and all of them were found to be negative.

All the UK returnees and their contacts who tested positive were being treated in separate isolation wards, the government said. The returnees and their contacts were from Chennai, Thanjavur, Madurai, Nilgiris, Theni, Chengalpattu and Nagapattinam.

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