Vijayawada: The state government will focus on arrival of international travellers to curtail the spread of Covid-19 variant Omicron.
It set up help desks at international airports at Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru among others to keep a tab on international travellers, especially those coming from South Africa and its neighbouring countries. In all 12 countries had reported Covid-19 cases with Omicron strain.
These desks will check for symptoms among international travellers and ascertain their Covid-19 status with the support of local officials from respective state governments. If the travellers are found to be negative, they will be allowed to proceed to their destination but will be under observation for some time. If they test positive, they will quarantined for seven days and further tests like genome sequencing will be carried out.
After the World Health Organisation declared Omicron as a ‘Variant of Concern,’ the AP health authorities drew up a plan of action. They are trying to detect those suffering with Covid-19 symptoms early and isolate them to avoid spread of the virus. They will encourage more people to go for vaccination to build immunity against the new variant.
Moreover, as Omicron is expected to affect the people who are suffering with several health issues as their immunity levels are relatively low when compared with healthy people, the health authorities intend to keep a tab on such people including HIV/AIDS infected people and those suffering with multiple health complications.
The health authorities are advising people to stay put at home in case they find symptoms of Covid-19 and avoid public gatherings and maintain social distance strictly and go for Covid test.
Meanwhile, the AP government is also planning to procure genome sequencing testing machines to detect the variant within the state quickly. At present, it is sending samples to CCMB in Hyderabad and other centres for analysis.
Director of health Dr G. Hymavathi said, “As part of our preparation to face Omicron, we are focusing on international travelers, especially from South Africa and other countries. Based on the test results, they will be allowed to proceed to their destination and will be under watch by local health officials for some time for symptoms.”
