Omicron variant to be treated in Lok Nayak Hospital: Delhi Govt.

The Delhi government designated Lok Nayak hospital on Tuesday for the treatment of Sars-CoV-2 patients infected with the novel Omicron type. According to an order issued by SM Ali, special secretary for health, “Lok Nayak would designate one or more different wards (when needed) for isolating and treating such patients [those revealing the presence of the new variety].”

Referring to the development in a tweet, health minister Satyendar Jain said the Delhi government was “fully prepared” to fight the new variant of coronavirus, which has been declared a variant of concern by WHO.”Hereby, we are designating Lok Nayak hospital as a dedicated hospital to treat the new variant of coronavirus (Omicron),” he said.

As per government officials, [international] travellers are also being allowed to isolate in four private hospitals in the city as paid facility.

This comes after the meeting of Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Monday, after which deputy CM Manish Sisodia said the state was prepared to tackle any rise in Covid-19 infections. All passengers arriving in Delhi from “at-risk” countries, including all of Europe, will need to take an RT-PCR test at the airport and will have to quarantine at home for at least eight days even if their samples return negative, senior state officials said.

According to authorities, at least one tourist from Germany has been hospitalised to Medanta hospital in Delhi, where he is suspected of being infected with the new type. His sample has already been sent to the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for genome sequencing, and a result is expected soon.

Meanwhile, the government is looking into two clusters of Covid-19 infections in Maharashtra and Karnataka to see if the new version is present. There have been no verified cases of the new variety in the nation as of yet.