The Maharashtra health department went into a tizzy as eight passengers who recently returned from the UK were found infected with the new strain of COVID-19, officials said here on Monday. Health Minister Rajesh Tope made the announcement: "Eight passengers returned from UK have been found positive for the new strain of COVID-19. Five are from Mumbai, two from Thane and one from Pune." The minister added that the process of contact tracing of these patients is underway, besides implementing new protocols for their treatment even as Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray conducted a review meeting of the current scenario. On his part, Thackeray met with the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner I. S. Chahal and other health department officials, and directed them to be more vigilant in view of the latest situation. The 8 cases with the new strain were detected out of 43 UK-returnees who tested Covid-19 positive in the past over 6 weeks, Tope said. The development came a day after Mumbai recorded just 3 Covid-19 deaths - the first since March 20 - even as the state swung into preparations for a massive Corona vaccination drive. In a positive development, the number of active cases (ill patients) plunged below the 50K mark to 48,801 in the state, besides a notching a recovery rate of 94.88 per cent and a fatality rate of 2.55 per cent. With 29 fatalities from only seven out of the 36 districts recorded for the day, the state death toll has reached 49,695 and by adding 2,765 new patients, the total Covid-19 cases touched 19,47,011 till date. The government in tune with the Centres guidelines has already implemented stringent protocols for all passengers from UK, Middle East and certain other countries in a bid to avoid the new Covid strain carriers. Keep scrolling to read more news Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates. Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

Stay updated with all the Latest Thane headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.