Raipur, Nov 29 (PTI) The Chhattisgarh government on Monday ordered the setting up of help desks at three airports in the state for effective screening of passengers flying in from abroad in view of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus, officials said.

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The state health department, in a letter to all district collectors, also directed that fresh guidelines for international travelers issued by the Union Health Ministry for tackling the new COVID variant must be followed strictly, a public relations department official said.

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The fresh guidelines stressed on effective surveillance and screening of passengers coming to India from 'at risk' countries where the new variant was found, the letter informed.

"The state government has directed the collectors concerned to set up help desks at the three airports, namely Raipur, Bilaspur and Jagdalpur, to screen passengers coming from abroad. The help desk will also check COVID-19 test report, vaccination status, quarantine details on arrival in India and symptoms of the infection," the official said.

"All districts have been asked to coordinate with the state surveillance centre and track international travelers. Those who have failed to complete 7-day quarantine after arrival in India would be asked to go under quarantine and an RT-PCR test will be conducted on the 8th day. In case the test is positive, the person's sample will be sent for WGS (whole genome sequencing) test," the official informed.

Officials have also been directed to increase the number of tests for early detection of the infection, he added.

(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)