AP gears up to tackle Omicron

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh has taken up measures to stop and prevent the spread of the new variant of Covid-19 Omicron. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed officials to take all necessary steps to prevent Omicron cases.

Following an alert from the Centre, the Chief Minister asked officials to intensify vaccination programmes and take up door- to- door vaccination and fever surveys to prevent the spread of the new variant of Covid-19.

He emphasised on implementing Covid norms like compulsory wearing of masks and social distancing. He said hospitals should be ready to face any challenge by storing oxygen cylinders and necessary equipment. He said a target should be set up to complete two crore vaccinations by December.

The Chief Minister advised the officials to depute special teams to Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru airports to conduct screening and RT-PCR tests to those passengers who are coming to AP.

The officials said that they will send 15 per cent of samples to CCMB to trace the Omicron variant. They said Genome sequencing lab will be made available in Vijayawada soon.