SOP to be issued very soon: Health Minister

Keeping a close watch on Omicron variant: CM

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that "the State government is keeping a close watch on the fast spread of Omicron variant of Covid-19 that has spread from 2 to 12 in Bengaluru". He said that the State government would act appropriately as the situation needed.

Speaking to the media at North Guwahati today, the Chief Minister said, "The scientist fraternity is saying that those who took vaccines will not have to worry much in the event of the spread of the newest Covid-19 variant. Taking that in view, I appeal to every people of the state to take the Covid-19 vaccine at the earliest. Those who have not yet taken the first dose of the vaccine should take it soon. And those who have taken the first dose should take the second dose on time."

On the other hand, Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said, "We will prepare an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) to tackle the Omicron variant. This SOP will be for operational purposes. The Cabinet discussed this today. The Chief Minister has directed us to speed up the construction of ICUs in district hospitals. The ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) has already made it clear that the Omicron detection will be under the general RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction) test. Though the detection is through the RT-PCR, we will send the samples to Kolkata or Pune labs for confirmation if the variant is Omicron. The fast spread of the Omicron variant is a challenge for us to tackle."

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