OMICRON SCARE: Ready to face any eventuality, says Health Minister Keshab Mahanta

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The State Health Department is ready to face any eventuality on the Covid front.

Talking to The Sentinel, Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said, "The department is taking measures to open a few district-level Covid hospitals closed after the Covid situation eased. The department had converted some general hospitals to Covid hospitals to control the situation in the state. However, we reconverted such hospitals to general hospitals when the Covid situation relented. Now, we have asked deputy commissioners and joint health directors to make such hospitals fit for the treatment of Covid patients to meet any emergency."

When asked about measures against omicron, the minister said, "When a person comes from abroad, the department tests him at airports. If the person tests Covid positive, he goes under treatment in hospitals according to the Covid protocol. Even if the person tests negative, he will undergo a seven-day home quarantine. During the seven days, officials from the department go to his residence twice for the RT-PCR test. If such a person tests Covid positive, the department sends his sample to laboratories outside the state for genomic sequencing that detects infection of omicron variant. Such patients get treatment in isolation in hospitals as per the Covid protocol. The department has not found any omicron-infected Covid patient in the state so far."

Meanwhile, the medical fraternity in the state administered 3,53,07,861 vaccine doses – 2,16,00,320 first doses and 1,37,07,541 second doses – till 7 pm today.

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