States issue guidelines, review travel curbs over variant threat

Many state governments have issued fresh advisories to health officials and may reimpose restrictions on travel even as the central government on Sunday asked provincial authorities to be more vigilant against the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

NEW DELHI:

No cases of Omicron, dubbed a variant of concern by the World Health Organization last week, have been reported from India so far. The variant is spreading rapidly across the world, and there have been several instances reported from Africa, Europe and parts of Asia.

The Uttar Pradesh health department on Sunday issued an advisory to all chief medical officers in the state, asking them to focus upon travelers coming from or transiting through countries where cases of the new variant have been reported, as well as their contacts.

Travellers coming from ‘at risk' nations should be rigorously screened and monitored according to guidelines of the Union health ministry, the advisory said. All incoming passengers from 'at risk countries needed to tested. Those testing positive will have to stay in home isolation for 10 days and inform their health status to officials at the integrated Covid command center, the advisory said.

In Madhya Pradesh, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan held a high-level meeting on Sunday and said the state will prepare a list of people who returned from foreign countries over the past month. “These people will be tested and also the suspects will be kept under observation. Genome sequencing will also be done,” he said.