Omicron scare: Centre issues fresh guidelines to states & UTs amid COVID surge

Amid an upward trajectory in the COVID-19 cases and its Omicron variant, the centre has issued fresh guidelines for states and union territories. In a letter, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan advised initiating the creation of field/makeshift hospitals to augment the availability of health infrastructure. "This can be done with coordination with DRDO and CSIR as well as the private sector, corporations, NGOs, etc," he said.

"A large number of positive cases may be eligible for home isolation. These cases would require effective follow-up and a clearly defined mechanism for prompt shifting to a health facility in case of deterioration in their health situation...Special teams to be constituted to monitor all home isolation cases, call centres, control rooms must aid outbound calling for monitoring such patients and ensuring that all such cases can be shifted to an appropriate health facility through dedicated ambulances," Centre added.

The government also asked states to ensure control rooms at the district level or sub-district/ward level are made functional. "A clearly defined mechanism to access testing, ambulance and hospital beds need to be put in place and communicated to the public at large," Centre said.

States are also requested to ensure that that the existing COVID health infrastructure is revisited and necessary action to ensure its operational readiness be taken. It added that implementation of containment activities at the field level is essential.

India reports 22,775 COVID cases in 24 hours, Omicron cases rise to 1,431

India reported 22,775 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 406 deaths in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and family welfare said in its latest update. The current tally of Omicron cases stands at 1,431 with Maharashtra being the worst affected with 454 cases, followed by Delhi (351).

As per the health ministry, 8,949 people recovered from the illness while the active caseload stands at 1,04,781, which is less than 1% of the total cases. The country's recovery rate is 98.32%.

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