Delhi govt to review preparedness to deal with Omicron variant; RT-PCR tests must for passengers from 'high-risk' nations

New Delhi: As the new COVID-19 variant Omicron raises concern globally, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a meeting on Tuesday to review the preparedness to deal with Omicron and a possible third wave.

"On Tuesday, November 30 at 11 AM, CM @ArvindKejriwal will hold a meeting with the concerned officials to review the preparedness of Delhi in the wake of new COVID-19 variant and third wave," a tweet from the Office of the Chief Minister of Delhi said. 

Amid rising concerns due to the new coronavirus variant Omicron, the Delhi government on Monday said RT-PCR tests will be conducted on all passengers arriving from six high-risk countries. The decisions were taken in the 27th meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) chaired by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Monday.

According to sources, the six Omicron-affected countries discussed at today`s meeting include Belgium, Israel, Hong Kong, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Ways to prevent the spread of the new Covid-19 variant `Omicron` were also discussed in today`s meeting.

"It was decided that a mandatory RT-PCR test would be needed for travellers coming from these affected countries and samples of those who test positive would be sent for genome sequencing," Baijal said in a tweet.

Baijal said, "To effectively tackle the emerging situation, Officials were advised to strictly enforce the guidelines for international arrivals as issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GOI in coordination with the Ministry of Civil Aviation."

"After detailed deliberations as advised by experts it was decided to continue to strictly adhere to the Test, Track, Treat strategy with special focus on surveillance, isolation of positive cases, contact tracing and strict enforcement of COVID Appropriate Behaviour," Baijal tweeted.

"The Health Department was also advised to be in a state of preparedness and ensure adequate availability of beds, medicines, oxygen, etc to tackle any emergent situation that may arise. It was emphasized that the pace of vaccination should be enhanced for maximum coverage," the Delhi LG further said in a tweet.

During the meeting recently, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, "New variants have been discussed in the meeting. Experts said that since this is spreading very fast, there is still uncertainty about its impact. People all over the world are worried about how it is reacting. Whatever information the experts have about it, they informed DDMA about it and said that we are keeping an eye on it."

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister and Nodal Minister for Corona Affairs Manish Sisodia, Health Minister Satyendar Jain, Revenue Minister Kailash Gehlot, NITI Aayog member VK Paul, Chief Secretary Vijay Dev and officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation were also present at the meeting held by Delhi LG through video conferencing.