NEW DELHI: The Union home ministry on Tuesday extended the existing Covid-19 guidelines till December 31. This comes after the emergence of a of the new Omicron variant, which has been spreading fast across the globe.
In its order, the home minister has advised state governments to ensure strict compliance of ministry of health’s November 25 advisory in the wake of the omicron outbreak.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan today held a review meeting with states and UTs and advised them to ramp up testing for early identification and management of cases.
The B.1.1.529 Covid variant or Omicron, first detected in South Africa last week, was designated by the World Health Organisation as a ‘variant of concern’, the health body’s top category for worrying coronavirus variants.
The Centre on Sunday introduced stricter guidelines for people travelling from or transiting through ‘at-risk’ countries and issued a slew of directions to the states for ramping up testing-surveillance measures and health facilities.
It also decided to review the resumption of international flights.