On Tuesday, the Centre issued a warning to the states stating that Omicron is three times more transmissible than the delta variant. The central government has directed the state governments to impose strict restrictions in districts reporting high positivity rate, including the imposition of night curfew, strict regulation of large gatherings and containment measures.
The centre has also said that the government to analyse the case trend and should activate the war rooms if needed. Centre has also said that specific directions must be taken “in view of initial signs of a surge in cases of Covid-19 as well as increased detection of the variant of concern (VOC), Omicron, in different parts of the country”.
These directions were issued by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on the day when India crossed the mark of 200-Omicron cases. The directions were shared via a letter, which was shared with all states. Union Health Secretary has said that restrictions must be imposed at the district level if the positivity rate is 10 percent or more in one week. It has further advised that the restrictions and measures must be imposed based on the local situation and the population characteristics such as density and keeping in mind the higher transmissibility of Omicron.
“At the district level, there should be a constant review of emerging data regarding the population affected by Covid-19, geographical spread, hospital infrastructure and its utilisation, manpower, notifying containment zones, enforcement of perimeter of containment zones. This evidence should be the basis for effective decision-making at the district level itself. Such a strategy ensures that infection is contained at the local level itself before it spreads to other parts of the state,” the letter read.
The letter also issued a containment list, which states, “Imposition of night curfew, strict regulation of large gatherings, curtailing numbers in marriages and funerals, restricting numbers in offices, industries and public transport”.
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“ln case of all new clusters of Covid positive cases, prompt notification of containment zones, buffer zones should be done, strict perimeter control of containment zone as per extant guidelines must be ensured. All cluster samples must be sent to INSACOG labs for genome sequencing without delay,” it continued.
Mr Bhusan has also said that the states must enforce strict home isolation and 100 percent vaccination across the state.
According to the official data, seven Indian states have two-digit Omicron cases. These seven states, with the most number of cases, are – Maharashtra and Delhi (54), Telangana (20), Karnataka (19), Rajasthan (18), Kerala (15), and Gujarat (14).