Omicron fear: Odisha govt alerts districts on attainable third wave, asks officers to stay ready

By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha authorities on Sunday sounded an alert for a attainable third wave and made quarantine of overseas returnees obligatory in view of the detection of the brand new Covid variant Omicron in a minimum of eight international locations.

Emphasising on correct screening and RT-PCR take a look at of all overseas travellers to stop the virus from getting into the State, Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra requested all Collectors to make sure genome sequencing of Covid optimistic samples of individuals from high-risk international locations.

“As educational institutions have reopened and economic activities resumed after relaxation of lockdown norms and decline in new cases, we need to be more vigilant to prevent the next wave. The new variant has also fueled the apprehension of a possible spread if not checked at the earliest,” he informed officers throughout a video convention on Sunday.

The Collectors, Municipal Commissioners and CDMOs have been directed to reactivate the system and have interaction all ward and village stage healthcare employees to gather info on returnees and mobilise unvaccinated folks to take their photographs as early as attainable.

Since the State has a reporting mechanism prepared for acquiring previous journey particulars of passengers coming by worldwide flights, district officers have been instructed to overview it often and comply with the protocol offered by the Ministry of Health together with testing on disembarkation of worldwide vacationers coming from ‘in danger’ international locations.

Additional Chief Secretary of Health RK Sharma stated particular consideration is being given to passengers arriving on the Biju Patnaik International Airport. Apart from enhancing the RT-PCR testing to help in early identification, focus might be on monitoring hotspots the place current cluster of optimistic instances have emerged.

“The officials will have to ensure saturation testing in hotspots and sending of positive samples for genome sequencing besides ensuring strictly implementation of containment measures,” he stated.

Development Commissioner PK Jena confused on door-to-door vaccination drive. He directed officers to go for strict enforcement of Covid tips and take stern motion in opposition to the violators.

Director of Public Health Dr Niranjan Mishra stated all overseas returnees, particularly the travellers coming from excessive threat international locations, must stay in quarantine for 14 days. Though the central guideline says 10-day quarantine, isolation for 2 weeks would be the most secure to stop the unfold of virus, he added.