Bhubaneswar: The Health department has directed all district collectors to maintain strong surveillance on people returning from other countries after a new variant of COVID-19 – Omicron – was detected in South Africa.
As a precautionary measure, the government has made 10-day quarantine mandatory for people returning from foreign countries.
Informing this to media persons Health Director Niranjan Mishra said foreign returnees will have to stay under quarantine for 10 days to prevent further spread of COVID infections in the state.
Mishra asked the collectors, CDMOs and Municipal Commissioners to intensify testing, tracking and treatment while ensuring full vaccination of all eligible persons. People have been asked to be more cautious and take proper precautions like masking and social distancing.
The school and colleges authorities have been asked to adhere to the COVID guidelines.
Earlier, the government had warned and asked students with COVID-19 symptoms not to attend educational institutions. COVID test will be conducted on symptomatic students and the educational institutions which report fresh COVID cases will be sealed, said Mishra.
The imminent third wave can be evaded if people will remain cautious, he said. An advisory on new COVID variant will be released by the Government soon, he added.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has named new strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus (B.1.1.529) – Omicron.
The variant has been detected in South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong has now forced several countries including India to initiate precautionary measures to prevent its spread.
