New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday suggested all the states in Northeast to scale up Covid-19 testing and imposition of local lockdown following reports that Meghalaya has registered a sudden increase in Omicron cases.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan chaired a meeting with health secretaries of all the northeastern states through video conferencing and reviewed the Covid-19 situation. Being aware of the fact that the Northeastern States face hindrances as far as communication is concerned, health secretary Bhushan asked all the States to accelerate their healthcare infrastructure.
"All the states have been asked to ensure adherence to the Covid appropriate behaviour, besides imposition of local restrictions whenever required," said an official privy to the meeting.
As per health ministry statistics, Meghalaya is the only state in Northeast that witnessed a huge spike in Omicron cases in the last few days. Till date, Meghalaya has registered 75 Omicron cases out of which only 10 have been recovered.
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"It's a matter of concern that Meghalaya has been witnessing a rapid surge in Omicron cases. It is also a fact that Meghalaya attracts people with its tourism hotspots and in such a situation when cases of Omicron are increasing, there is every possibility that the variant may transmite to the people visiting the State," said Dr Giridhar Gyani, director general of health care providers.
The union health ministry has already admitted that Omicron is three times more transmissible than Delta.
Two other Northeastern states, namely Assam and Manipur, have also registered Omicron cases. Assam registered 9 cases and Manipur 1, Union Health Ministry statistics said.
However, in both the States people infected with Omicron have already been cured. As per Health Ministry statistics, a total of 8,891 total Omicron cases has been registered in India with an increase of 8.31 percent in last 24 hours. The total number of Omicron cases detected as on Monday was 8,209 ad out of which 3,109 have also been recovered.
As per health ministry statistics, Maharashtra has registered the highest number of 1738 Omicron cases followed by West Bengal 1672, Rajasthan 1276, Delhi 549, Karnataka 548 and Kerala 536 cases.
