Omicron: Centre asks states, UTs to ramp up vaccination, enforce containment measures

With India experiencing a massive spurt in the Omicron cases, senior officials have been aletred to enforce strict actions to prevent the spread of the ‘highly transmissible’ B.1.1.529 variant. The Centre on Thursday advised the governments of the States and UTs to enforce stringent measures to control the rise in COVID-19 cases. A slew of measures has been announced by the Union government for state administrations to follow.

Centre advise states/ UTs to expand vigilance

Amid all measures, the Centre has advised the states to ensure maximum testing, ramped up vaccination and enforcement of COVID containment zones in the areas reporting maximum cases. At the review meeting on the status of COVID-19 spread across all states and UTs, the Union government officials have advised the centre to do as follows:

1. States have been asked to observe all precautions and not let the guard down. They were advised to be vigilant and monitor case positivity, doubling rate, clusters of new cases across Districts.

2. Centre advised States to enforce local curbs/restrictions ahead of the upcoming festive season.

3.  As a part of the containment measures- States were advised to impose night curfews & ensure strict regulation of large gatherings, especially, notify containment zones, buffer zones in case in new COVID-19 clusters.

4. The centre had exerted pressure on states to ramp up vaccination. They were directed to ensure 100% coverage of left out first and second dose eligible beneficiaries in an accelerated manner & strengthen door-to-door vaccination campaigns in States/UTs where vaccination coverage is below the national average.

5. In view of the Omicron threat, special emphasis was given on the states going for elections in the near future to exponentially ramp up the COVID19 vaccination, especially in the low coverage districts to protect the vulnerable population.

Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also expected to hold a review meeting to observe the COVID-19 situation in the country today and to take note of the measures being taken so far. This comes after a ‘mini-tsunami’ of cases exploded in the western countries, including the UK, where Omicron has become the dominant variant. Despite the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant, the fatality caused by it is observed to be low as of now.

236 Omicron Cases recorded in India

In the last 24 hours, India has reported 7,495 new COVID-19 cases, according to the Union Health Ministry. So far, 236 instances of the Omicron variant have been reported in the country Maharashtra is the state with the most confirmed cases, with 65, followed by Delhi with 64, and Telangana with 24. 104 people have recovered from the virus out of the 236 cases. With the recovery of 6,960 patients in the last 24 hours, the total number of COVID patients recovered since the outbreak began currently stands at 3,42,08,926. 434  deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll from the infection to 4,78,759.

(With ANI Inputs)