Bihar govt asks officials to prepare to deal with any emergency

Patna, Dec 16 (IANS) Amid the growing threat of Omicron virus, the Bihar government has directed DMs, SPs and civil surgeons to take extreme precautions in their respective districts.

The direction was issued on Wednesday evening during a crisis management group meeting convened for analysing the rising cases of Corona in the state.

According to an official of crisis management cell: "Though, the state government is not looking for partial lockdown but it is working on a backup plan. The authorities have been directed to aware people to wear masks and avoid crowded places. People seen without masks would be fined."

On Wednesday, the authorities collected around Rs 2,40,000 through fines.

It has further directed cinema halls, restaurants, gyms, clubs, swimming pools to operate with 50 per cent occupancy. However, industries, schools, colleges, malls, business centres, private offices, religious places and others have been exempted.

"The guidelines will remain in force till January 5, 2022 and can be changed depending on the situation," .

As health department has no facility for genome sequencing in the state, the reports related to Omicron gets delayed due to dependency on other states, he said. Currently, the samples of Corona positive patients are sent to Delhi for testing of genome sequencing and the results are received in a month.

Due to this, the threat of Omicron is increasing in the state as majority of the Corona positive patients are under home isolations.

"We have set up isolation centers in every city. In Patna, it has been established in Patliputra sports Complex having capacity of 110 beds and adequate arrangements of oxygen as well," the official stated.