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Taking All Possible Precautions, No Case of Omicron in India so Far: Health Minister in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: No case of COVID19 variant Omicron has been reported in India so far, Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya said in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour. Speaking in the Upper House on Tuesday, Mandaviya assured that the government is taking all possible precautions including screening of international passengers at airports and doing genome sequencing.

“This new variant has been found in 14 countries. There is no case of Omicron in India yet. We are taking all possible precautions and doing genome sequencing as well”, the Health Minister said.

Contrary to the health minister’s statement, Dr. Samiran Panda, head of Epidemiology at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) asserted that the ‘new strain is possibly already in the country and it may be a matter of time before it’s detected’. “I won’t be surprised if there’s detection in India. It’s just a matter of time, given the high transmissibility that this variant comes with,” NDTV quoted the top government expert as saying.

The B.1.1.529 Covid variant or Omicron, first detected in South Africa last week, was designated by the World Health Organisation as a ‘variant of concern’, the health body’s top category for worrying coronavirus variants.

Earlier on Sunday, the Centre had introduced stricter guidelines for people travelling from or transiting through ‘at-risk’ countries and issued a slew of directions to the states for ramping up testing-surveillance measures and health facilities. It had also decided to review the resumption of international flights.

The countries designated as ‘at-risk’ (updated as of November 26) include European countries, the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.



source https://www.india.com/news/india/breaking-no-case-of-omicron-in-india-so-far-says-health-minister-in-rajya-sabha-5117001/

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