The Indian health ministry on Friday said the total number of cases in the country of the mutant strain of the coronavirus, first found in the United Kingdom, has gone up to 82. This came on a day India resumed flights from the country.

An Air India plane from the UK, carrying 246 passengers, landed in Delhi on Friday, NDTV reported. A restricted number of flights between India and Britain began operating since Wednesday.

The government has reduced the number of flights to UK from 60 per week to 30 to contain the faster-spreading mutant strain, according to ANI.

On Friday morning, India reported 18,139 new coronavirus cases, taking its tally to 1,04,13,417. The country’s toll rose by 234 to 1,50,570. The country’s cases stood at 2,25,449, while the recoveries reached 1,00,3,7398.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday had urged Centre to extend the ban on flights between India and the UK till January 3, citing the coronavirus situation in that country. “With great difficulty, people have brought [the] Covid-19 situation in control,” he had said. “UK’s Covid-19 situation is very serious. Now, why lift [the] ban and expose our people to risk.”

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India suspended flight services from the UK on December 22 to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The Centre had said that it will do genome sequencing for passengers who test positive for the infection and show symptoms.

Genome sequencing can provide crucial information about how a virus is evolving or if new variants are emerging, how the virus is spreading from one place to another and whether cases in a given cluster are linked to one another.

The UK virus strain

The new UK virus variant, which scientists have named “VUI – 202012/01”, includes a genetic mutation in the “spike protein”, which could result in coronavirus spreading more easily between people. It was first announced by Matt Hancock, the UK health secretary, on December 14, and was subsequently confirmed by Public Health England and the UK’s Covid-19 sequencing consortium. Screening back through databases of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19, the first sample was taken in the county of Kent on September 20.

The variant carries 23 mutations in its genetic code – a relatively high number of changes compared with the version that originated in Wuhan, China, a year ago – and some of these are affecting its ability to spread. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed that this was as much as 70% more transmissible than previous versions.

Earlier this week. Johnson announced a complete lockdown in England, fuelled by the new variant of the virus. The restrictions are due to last until at least mid-February. Johnson warned that the coming weeks would be the “hardest yet”.

Most scientists have said that the new variant has rapidly become the dominant strain in coronavirus cases in parts of southern England, and have linked it to an increase in hospitalisation rates. However, it is difficult to say exactly how much more transmissible the new variant may be as scientists have not yet done the kind of lab experiments that are required to assess it.

Cases of new strain has also been reported in the United States, Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.