Agartala/Guwahati, Dec 27 (IANS): After Assam, now another man who has recently returned from the United Kingdom (UK) in Tripura, tested positive for the coronavirus, health officials said on Sunday.

However, the officials added that his sample has been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune to ascertain whether he was infected by the mutant coronavirus strain, which has hit the European country.

Tripura's Covid-19 Surveillance Officer Dip Debbarma said that the UK returnee is now under home isolation and a report of his sample is expected to come from the NIV on Tuesday.

Tripura has so far reported 33,237 Covid-19 cases, while 382 people have succumbed to the dreaded disease.

On Sunday night, the number of active cases stood at 141, while 32,688 people have recovered. However, with the 1.15 per cnt fatality rate, Tripura topped among the eight northeastern states in the Covid-19 mortality ratio.

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma earlier said in Guwahati that recently around 102 people have come to Assam from the UK and one of them was found Covid-19 positive and his sample has been sent to the NIV in Pune to determine whether it is the same new virus strain of Covid-19.

In Meghalaya, entry of any person from the UK into the state has been prohibited. The state government has also urged people who have recently returned from Britain or transited through the country to stay in isolation and inform it about their travel history.

Official sources said five people with recent travel history to the UK have been detected in Meghalaya so far, and health workers are closely observing their symptoms.

"All UK returnees to the state since November 25 are required to declare their travel history (of past 14 days) to the surveillance officers in the state and mandatorily undergo RT-PCR test," Chief Secretary M.S. Rao said in the order issued last week.