By Avinash Prabhakar

After the Union Health Ministry made it mandatory for foreign arrivals to undergo RT-PCR tests upon their arrival in the country, a total of 124 international passengers have been found to be Covid-19 positive, a source said on Thursday, adding that 11 types of variants have been found so far in India.

The Health Ministry source said that a total of 19,227 international passengers have been screened across all ports in the country from December 24, 2022 to January 3.

Of the 124 positive samples, genome sequencing results of 40 were received in which the XBB variant, including XBB.1, was found in 14 samples.

The other XBB variants are XBB.2, XBB.3, XBB.4, XBB.5.

The BF 7.4.1 variant has been found in one sample so far, the source said.

The source however, said none of the 11 variants seem to causing much problem as of now and no visible impact have been observed so far.

The other variant found in the country include BA.5, BQ 1.1 and BQ1.122, BQ 1. 1.5, CH1.1, CH.1.1.1, BF.7.4.1 and BB3.A

However, the source said that no visible impact have been observed of these variants in the country so far.

But, the month of January is crucial from the Covid point of view, he said, adding that the Covid vaccine is effective on all these variants. (SJ/IANS)