STATE TIMES NEWS
Jammu: Referring to surge in cases of new variant Omicron worldwide, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday called for putting tough measures in place to prevent the contagion.
While reviewing the latest Covid-19 situation of the Union Territory at a meeting with Covid Task Force and DCs, SPs, Sinha directed the Civil and Police administrations across Jammu and Kashmir to ensure that everyone follows Covid-appropriate behaviour.
The Lt Governor further asked the district administrations to carry out analysis of Covid trend in their respective districts and identify the reasons of surge to deploy effective strategies. He impressed upon the optimal utilization of RTPCR tests and accelerated vaccination drive as top priority.
The Lt Governor said that Health department will ensure that every patient gets the benefit of Sehat Golden Card. “J&K administration’s aim is to provide the best medical care to everyone without any strain on their finances”, he maintained.
He issued instruction to the Deputy Commissioners of the districts with low number of Sehat Golden cards to ensure its saturation.
The Lt Governor asked the Divisional commissioners to keep a close vigil and continuously monitor the emerging situation.
Vivek Bhardwaj, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department gave a detailed briefing on the analysis of Covid-19 situation, District-wise threat level, testing, contact tracing and vaccination across the UT, besides vaccine stock, weekly RTPCR testing, Covid Appropriate Behavior enforcements, report of Survey (Har Ghar Dastak) of TB Symptoms, and work done in BIS under AB PM-JAY & AB PM-JAY SEHAT.
Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lt Governor; Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Atal Dulloo, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department; Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary to the government, Home department; Shailendra Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Government, Public Works (R&B) Department; Pandurang K Pole, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; Dr Raghav Langer, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; Deputy Commissioners and SPs, attended the meetings, in person and through virtual mode.
Delhi, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal said though daily COVID-19 cases are below 10,000 for the past 20 days, there is a need to stay vigilant in view of the new Omicron variant and rising cases in other countries.
According to Central and state officials, Maharashtra has reported 40 cases, Delhi (22), Rajasthan (17), Karnataka (8), Telangana (8), Gujarat (5), Kerala (7), Andhra Pradesh (1), Chandigarh (1), Tamil Nadu (1) and West Bengal (1).
While the country’s first two cases of the Omicron variant were detected in Karnataka on December 2, this heavily mutated version of the coronavirus was first reported in South Africa on November 24.
“As Omicron variant is spreading very fast across Europe and most parts of the world so need to avoid nonessential travel, avoid mass gatherings and it is time to observe low intensity festivities and ushering in new year celebrations has to be at low intensity,” said ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava.
Those districts which have more than 5 per cent positivity rate need to ensure restrictive measures until the test positivity rate comes below 5 per cent for at least 2 weeks, he stressed.
Citing the World Health Organization (WHO), Agarwal said the Omicron variant is spreading faster than the Delta variant of the coronavirus in South Africa, where Delta circulation was low.
It is likely that Omicron spread will outpace Delta variant where community transmission occurs, he said quoting the WHO.
Quoting the WHO DG, Agarwal said Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant. We are concerned that people are dismissing Omicron as mild.
In response to a question on whether we are in community transmission of Omicron, Agarwal said, “We cannot at this point say that Omicron variant is widespread in India.”
He said most cases of Omicron have a travel history, or have contacts with travel histories. On a limited basis, there are one or two cases in which we have not been able to establish any such history but the process is still on to identify if there has been any travel or contact histories, he added.
Agarwal said the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems.
“Vaccines alone will not get any country out of this crisis. Masks, physical distancing, ventilation and hand hygiene should be followed along with vaccines. In most countries, those being hospitalized and dying are those who have not been vaccinated. So, the priority must be to vaccinate the unvaccinated, even in countries with the most access to vaccines.”
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said 10 of the 22 COVID patients infected by the Omicron variant have been discharged.
The minister had on Thursday said many international travellers are turning out COVID positive upon arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Health experts and Doctors in the national capital warned that people should avoid all kinds of gatherings as Omicron is a highly transmissible variant, and follow COVID-appropriate behaviour, else the situation may worsen.
They also rued that a “sense of complacency” has again crept in large sections of citizens, despite seeing the “horrors of the second wave” early this year.
“Omicron is highly transmissible. First thing people need to do is avoid all gatherings of any form, and follow all COVID-appropriate behaviour, like wearing masks, following social distancing, use of hand sanitiser, and not become lax at all,” said a senior doctor at the Lok Nayak hospital, the nerve-centre of Delhi’s fight against the pandemic since 2020.
Doctors at other government and private hospitals, concurred that similar complacency level among a larger section of citizens was seen just before the brutal second wave hit Delhi.
In Tamil Nadu, as many as 28 people who arrived from both ‘high-risk’ and ‘non-risk’ countries till date have tested COVID positive along with S-gene drop, raising the suspicion of they being infected with Omicron, a state minister said.
Medical and Family Welfare minister Ma Subramanian told reporters in Chennai that the samples of the 28 passengers have been sent for genomic sequencing analysis.
At the joint press conference in Delhi, NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul said a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic is being experienced in Europe with a steep rise in cases despite 80 per cent partial vaccination being done and delta wave being experienced.
“Situation overall is stable but in some districts the positivity rate is increasing and if needed restrictive measures should be implemented. There should be proper contact tracing and clusters should be monitored carefully and containment measures should be implemented. Clusters should be investigated to see if the new variant is driving the rise in cases there,” he added.