Amid Omicron scare, NITI Aayog's Dr VK Paul says 'mask is universal vaccine' for COVID

 Omicron variant of COVID-19 was designated as a 'variant of concern' by World Health Organisation in November. While Omicron variant cases have been increasing in country, India's first two cases of variant were detected in Karnataka.

In order to combat growing threat of Omicron variant, Health Ministry of India conducted a press conference on Thursday to apprise of curbs being imposed in wake of scare of new variant. During press conference, Dr. Vinod Kumar Paul, a member of  National Task Force on COVID-19, highlighted importance of vaccines and masks and said that mask is a universal vaccine.

'Mask is a universal vaccine': Dr. VK Paul 

During press conference conducted by Health Ministry,  Dr VK Paul spoke about importance of a mask and said, "  mask ultimately protects our body from se COVID-19 variants trying to enter our bodies, this is universal vaccine. importance of masks should be highlighted in situations like se, however, our country has always been imposing strict rules regarding use of masks." 

He ded, "As we have seen, countries that neglected importance of masks are facing threat of anor pandemic. Hence I would like to emphasize again that masks are very important and we should continue using m as we did during high-intensity period in pandemic." 

Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary of Union Health Ministry, on Thursday announced that two cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 have been reported in India, Both cases have been found in Karnataka. He said, "Two cases of Omicron detected in Karnataka so far through genome sequencing effort of INSACOG consortium of 37 laboratories established by Ministry of Health. We need not panic, but awareness is absolutely essential. COVID apt behaviour is required."

(Image: AP)