Bengaluru: India is on alert in the wake of a massive COVID surge in China and some other countries, triggered mainly by the BF.7 subvariant of Omicron strain.
While the Central government has taken measures, especially with regard to international flyers arriving in India, some of the states are taking precautions too.
The Karnataka government sprung into action on Monday, making masks mandatory in public places like schools, colleges, malls and movie theatres in the state with immediate effect.
The BJP-headed Basavaraj Bommai government also made masks mandatory at pubs, bars and restaurants ahead of New Year celebrations.
The decisions were taken at a meeting helmed by Health minister K Sudhakar, where government officials and health experts were present.
Imposing restrictions during the festive season, the minister said New Year celebrations in the state should end before 1 am.
“Absolutely no need to panic and just need to take precautions,” he added.
The minister informed that the state government has set up task force committees under deputy commissioners of respective districts to ensure COVID guidelines are followed properly and quick inoculation (of vaccine) is done by setting up camps all across the districts.
As many as 12 international passengers tested positive for COVID-19 this month at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport. Samples of all positive cases have been sent for genome sequencing to track and identify the variants.
