Health Minister T S Singhdeo holds crucial meeting on Omicron variant of Covid-19

Raipur:Singhdeo said 17000 beds are ready for Omicron patients in state.

He assured of making budget provision for setting up Genome Sequencing Lab in state, 

Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singhdeo held an important meeting of the health department on the Omicron variant of Covid-19 on Sunday and issued necessary directives. Post the meeting, Singhdeo said that Omicron variant has so far spread to 108 nations of the world. Chhattisgarh is surrounded by other states from all directions. 

The meeting was held to review the number of beds, number of cases and other facilities, said Singhdeo. “We also reviewed the situation created during the second wave of Corona in the state and discussed future plans to tackle if the third wave hit the state. We have 17000 beds ready for patients infected by Omicron variant.

Singhdeo said that night curfew cannot be an option as people usually stay home during the night. Right now, positive rate in Chhattisgarh is below 1 per cent. Here five patients are being found positive out of 500 tests, Singh said. The most important is to ensure Covid protocols are implemented strictly so that situation of another lockdown is not created. 

The Minister said that 280 foreign returnees were yet to be identified in Chhattisgarh.  He said that help of the police is being sought to trace such people. Besides, health department is trying to spot such people.

On schools, the health minister said that all the schools should not be closed in the state. Situation should be reviewed before taking decision on the closure of the schools. Every aspects, including education of students, corona situation and how its impact, should be considered before closing down the schools, Singhdeo said. If all schools are closed then loss will be huge, he said. SInghdeo said that provision in the budget will be made for Genome Sequencing Lab in the state. He said that the Centre has  issues new guidelines for the Genome Sequencing lab. As per rules, State will have to take permission of the centre for the laboratory. The state government will talk to the Centre, Singhdeo said.