New Delhi: Issuing a warning that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is ‘at least three times more transmissible’ than the Delta variant, the Union government has directed States to impose restrictions in districts reporting high positivity rate, including imposition of night curfew, strict regulation of large gatherings and containment measures.
The Centre also told the States to activate war rooms and keep analysing trends and surges, directing that specific measures need to 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.
The variant, which has led to shutdowns and has become the dominant strain responsible for the surge of infections across Europe and other countries, has now infected more than 200 people over a period of fewer than three weeks causing the government concern.
The bulk of these Omicron cases is from Delhi and Maharashtra, with the western state detecting 11 cases on Tuesday, which took the tally in the state to 65. Delhi has recorded 54 Omicron cases so far.
Calling for ‘greater foresight, data analysis, dynamic decision making and strict and prompt containment action’, the Union Health Ministry letter said decision making at the State/UT and district level ‘must be very prompt and focused and take containment measures and restrictions even before these thresholds are reached’.
As part of test and surveillance methods, the Centre has mentioned door-to-door case searches, contact tracing of all Covid-positive persons.
The Centre has advised district-level containment measures and restrictions if a district reports positivity of 10 per cent or more in the last one week, or bed occupancy of 40 per cent or more on oxygen-supported or ICU beds. However, ‘based on the local situation’ and ‘population characteristics such as density, and keeping in mind the higher transmissibility of Omicron’, States can enforce restrictions even before they report these numbers.