India News | Odisha Govt Gears Up Preparedness as Cases of New Coronavirus Variant Rise in India

Bhubaneswar, Dec 18 (PTI) Amid rising Omicron cases in the country, the Odisha government has geared up its preparedness to fight against a possible third wave of COVID-19, a senior health department official said.

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Odisha has not recorded any case of the new coronavirus variant so far but neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal reported such infections.

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The state has arranged for an adequate number of hospital beds, medical oxygen and medicines to deal with any emergency, Public Health Director Niranjan Mishra said.

"No one can rule out the possibility of the third wave of COVID-19 with increasing Omicron cases. We are well prepared to tackle the situation," the official said.

Samples of those who are returning from countries where the new strain of coronavirus has been detected are being tested and they are kept in isolation, he said.

"Their samples are also being re-tested after seven days. Samples of COVID-infected passengers are being sent for genome sequencing to ascertain whether they contracted the Omicron variant, which has been classified as a highly transmissible virus of concern," he said.

Replying to a question about two returnees from Nigeria, Mishra said, "The Cuttack administration has been asked to collect their samples and send them to laboratories for genome sequencing.” They have been kept in isolation as per COVID-19 protocols.

Mishra said dedicated facilities in existing COVID care centres will be made available for those who test positive for the Omicron variant in Odisha and they will not be allowed to go for home quarantine.

"Omicron-infected patients will be isolated in institutional quarantine centres. Special measures will be taken to ensure that these patients do not come in contact with others at designated health facilities," he said.

India's Omicron count crossed the 100 mark on Friday after recording the highest single-day rise of 24 fresh cases of the new variant.

The caseload of the new strain in the country was at 111.

Odisha Family Welfare Director and Nodal Officer for Immunisation Bijay Panigrah urged all eligible beneficiaries to take the second jab of COVID vaccines.

The administration has so far inoculated over 2.86 crore people, and 1.85 crore of them have received both doses of vaccines.

Odisha's COVID-19 tally rose to 10,52,641 on Saturday as 169 more people tested positive for the infection.

One fresh fatality pushed the coronavirus death toll to 8,442, the health department official said.

The state now has 1,922 active cases, while 10,42,224 people have recovered from the disease so far, including 222 in the last 24 hours.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)