Mumbai, Nov 27 (PTI) Travelers from African countries where cases of the new coronavirus variant `Omicron' have been found should be screened, Mumbai municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal directed officials on Saturday.

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Passports of international passengers should be checked at the Mumbai airport and medical tests should be conducted if a person has been to any of the African countries where the new variant has been found, he instructed. If found positive for infection, such a person should be institutionally quarantined, Chahal said, according to an official release.

Samples of such passengers should be sent for genome sequencing, he added.

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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had called a meeting of various authorities including police, airport, superintendents of major civic hospitals, executive health officers and members of Maharashtra's COVID-19 task force in the evening to discuss precautions to be taken in view of concerns over Omicron.

There are no direct flights to Mumbai from African countries, but as a precautionary measure Chahal directed the airport administration to collect information of the last fortnight's journey of all international arrivals. Jumbo Covid Centers of the BMC should be re-inspected to ensure that they are functioning properly and vaccination should be accelerated, he said.

(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)