Mansukh Mandaviya, Health Minister to hold meeting today with states amid Omicron threat

On Thursday, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will host a conference with state officials on airport screening and surveillance, which will include APHOs and Port Health Officials (PHOs). This comes amid growing fears about a new COVID-19 strain known as ‘Omicron,’ which has been detected in several nations. South Africa was the first to report the novel Omicron form to the World Health Organization (WHO) on November 24.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s first patient of the Omicron variant, who resides in Thane district, was on Wednesday discharged from a hospital after testing negative for the infection. The patient, a 33-year-old marine engineer from Kalyan Dombivli municipal area, had arrived at the Delhi airport from South Africa via Dubai in the last week of November. He had boarded the flight from South Africa on November 24. On his arrival at the New Delhi airport his RT-PCR test was conducted. By the time he landed in Mumbai, he was informed by the Delhi airport authorities that he has tested positive for COVID-19.

According to the Centre, the countries designated as “at-risk” are European countries, including the UK, and South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.