NEW DELHI : Threat of the new highly mutant coronavirus variant omicron looms large in the country with centre and states stepping up their surveillance and virus containment measures.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday informed Parliament that so far, RT-PCR tests of 16,000 passengers from 'at-risk' countries have been conducted, of whom 18 have tested positive for Covid-19. “Genome sequencing for Omicron detection is underway for such passengers," said Mandaviya.
A day after India’s first two cases of were found in Karnataka, the state government on Friday revised its covid-19 containment guidelines, imposing restrictions on the unvaccinated population from visiting certain public places.