K'taka to hold meeting on 'Omicron'

Bengaluru, Nov 30 (IANS) Karnataka Health Minister K. Sudhakar will hold a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the possible impact of the new Covid variant 'Omicron' in the state and also to take a call on formulation of new Covid guidelines.

Sudhakar explained: "When I reacted to 'Omicron', a new Covid variant, it was spread in 12 countries. Today (Tuesday) the new variant has spread to 18 nations. Hence, it is not only airports; steps would be discussed to keep vigilance at borders wherein people arrive from different states."

The meeting would also mainly focus on achieving 100 per cent administration of Covid-19 vaccines in the state.

The meeting would discuss how to go about handling travellers from high risk countries, the nationals of those countries as well as native people who are returning from there. "We will discuss that if found negative, whether they should be kept in institutional quarantine. We will also discuss preparations and pros and cons," he added.

Sudhakar further stated that a new variant is being studied on how it is spreading in countries like the UK and US. Positivity or spreading of the infection won't put pressure on the system.

"If it is causing ICU admissions, then it is going to be a challenge and the meeting will discuss on this," he said.

There is no agenda as such to put curbs on celebration of Christmas and New Year.

"We will be getting official information from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on December 1 or 2. Based on that, decisions will be taken, he explained.

The meeting will also decide on new guidelines for the state in the wake of the threat of new variant. He informed that the genomic sequencing report of two South African nationals who tested positive for Covid-19 is yet to come.

Both are doing fine and they are asymptomatic. Hospitalisation was also not required, it has been done as a precautionary measure, he said.