Amid the looming threat of Covid’s Omicron variant, which has wreaked havoc in southern Africa, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Saturday directed officials to ensure Covid-appropriate behaviour in the city.
He also instructed them to oversee full preparedness in hospitals to handle any emergency situation.
According to government sources, Baijal instructed the chief secretary, police commissioner and other officials concerned to ensure strict adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour in public places and functions.
Meanwhile, a meeting called by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Monday will be attended by experts and representatives of the civil aviation minister among many others.
During the meeting, the DDMA may take a call on RT-PCR testing of passengers deboarding from international flights and quarantining of passengers from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong, etc.
Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop flights from those countries which are affected by the new Covid variant.
“I urge PM to stop flights from those countries which are affected by new variant. With great difficulty, our country has recovered from Corona. We should do everything possible to prevent this new variant from entering India,” Kejriwal said in a tweet.
Amid rising concern about a new COVID-19 variant ‘Omicron’ first detected in South Africa, India also added several countries to the list from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in India, including post-arrival testing for infection.
This variant is reported to have a significantly high number of mutations, and thus, has serious public health implications for the country, in view of recently relaxed visa restrictions and opening up of international travel.
