Chennai: For the second consecutive day today, a four-member Central team assessed the situation in Tamilnadu in view of the emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The team consisted of Dr Vineeta, Dr Purbasa, Dr M Santhosh Kumar and Dr Dinesh Babu and is camping in the State for five days.
Tamilnadu has so far reported 34 cases of Omicron variant of which 12 of them were discharged after treatment. The remaining 22 people were undergoing treatment at the government and private hospitals.
During their stay, the team members would hold discussions with Tamilnadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian, Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan and other officials and assess the situation.
They would visit some of the government hospitals in the city to inspect the facilities put in place for treating Omicron-infected people, the number of beds and oxygen facilities before going to other districts to review the arrangements.
In view of the increase in fresh Covid-19 infections in the country, the Centre decided to deploy multi-disciplinary teams to 10 states identified with a surge in Omicron numbers, apart from continued rise in Covid-19 cases and slow vaccination pace.
The central teams will help add teeth to the efforts of the States and district administrations for management of the coronavirus pandemic.
‘The teams will specifically look into contact tracing, surveillance, containment operations, vaccination process, besides availability of hospital beds, sufficient logistics, ambulance, ventilators, medical oxygen,’ official sources said.
The Ministry has also asked the teams to assess the situation, suggest remedial actions and submit a report daily.