Omicron Threat: Centre extends existing Covid-19 guidelines till December 31

The Union home ministry on Tuesday extended the existing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) guidelines till December 31. The development  comes in the backdrop of the emergence of the Omicron variant which has triggered panic across the globe. In its advisory, the health ministry advisory has directed the states to rigorously screen and test all the passengers arriving in international flights. The contacts of these passengers should also be closely tracked and tested, the health ministry further said in its guidelines. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan held a review meeting with states and UTs on Tuesday and advised them to ramp up testing for early identification and management of cases. 

While underlining that the new variant doesn’t escape RT-PCR and RAT tests, Bhushan asked states and UTs to ensure adequate infrastructure and supervised home isolation, a Union Health Ministry official said. According to government officials, no case of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus has been detected in India yet. ln view of the possible threat that the new Variant of Concern (VoC ) can pose to the nation, the ministry has asked all states and UTs to focus on intensive containment, active surveillance, enhanced testing, monitoring of hotspots, increased coverage of vaccination and ensure augmentation of health infrastructure. 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. A senior official said no case of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus has been detected in India yet and Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia INSACOG is closely monitoring the situation and expediting the results of genomic analysis of positive samples of international travellers.