Six from South Africa test positive for COVID-19: Maharashtra

Mumbai, Dec 01: Six persons from South Africa and other at risk countries have tested positive in Maharashtra.

The newly issued rules by the Centre for international travellers will be effective from today. Following a high level meeting, the rules were issued. At the meeting the public health preparedness was reviewed in the wake of Omicron, a new variant of COVID-19.

If a traveller is found positive he or she will be isolated and treated. Their samples would be sent to the INSACOG Labs network, a multi-laboratory, multi-agency, pan-India network set up by the government to monitor genomic variations in the SARS-CoV-2, for genome sequencing to determine the strain of the virus. Contact tracing would be undertaken by the States and the same would be followed up for 14 days.

The list of countries deemed at risk for now are United Kingdom, all 44 countries in Europe, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Israel. Passenger from at risk countries are advised to prepare to wait at airports till results are out.

Passenger from at risk countries will be tested for COVID-19 on arrival. They can't leave the airport until their results are out. If negative they have to undergo 7 day home quarantine and will be re-tested on day 8. State officials will visit their homes to ensure effective home isolation.

Test track treat strategy has been re-emphasised. States have been advised not to let their guard down. States to ramp up testing as the Omicron variant cannot escape the RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Tests.

States advised to continue monitoring areas where recent clusters of positive cases have emerged. Preparedness of health infrastructure including the availability of ICU, Oxygen beds, ventilators, etc., with a focus on rural areas and pediatric cases have been advised.