Stop flights from countries hit by new COVID variant 'Omicron': Arvind Kejriwal urges PM Modi

Arvind Kejriwal said all measures should be taken to prevent the new COVID-19 strain 'Omicron' from entering India.

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New Delhi: Amid the fear of ‘Omicron’ gripping the world, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday (November 27) requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop flights from countries hit by the new coronavirus variant. 

Kejriwal said all measures should be taken to prevent the new COVID strain from entering India. 

“I urge the PM to stop flights from those countries which are affected by new variant (of COVID-19). With great difficulty, our country has recovered from Corona. We should do everything possible to prevent this new variant from entering India,” the Delhi CM said in a tweet. 

The Delhi government will hold a meeting of the Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Monday (November 29) to discuss steps to handle the new variant. “In view of the threat from new COVID variant from African countries, we have requested experts to make a presentation to DDMA on Mon and suggest what steps we shud take. We will take all steps necessary to protect u and ur family,” the Delhi CM had tweeted on Friday. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday labelled the new strain, first detected in South Africa, as a "variant of concern" and assigned the B.1.1.529 variant the Greek letter Omicron. 

As preventive measures, India has added several countries to the list from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in the wake of the detection of COVID variant 'Omicron'. These countries include South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Israel, Hong Kong, countries in Europe including the UK.

Meanwhile, PM Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a review meeting on COVID-19 situation and vaccination with top government officials. Cabinet Secretary Gauba, Principal Secretary to PM Modi, PK Mishra and NITI Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul and Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan were persent during the meeting. 

(With agency inputs)