Can Goa afford to relax its pandemic measures? by Alexandre Moniz Barbosa (Herald, November 28), are words of wisdom and words of ‘concern’ as the threat of new variant of Omicron looms over and has been termed dangerous.
Couple of days back we heard about two south African internationals testing positive with Covid-19 as threat of new variant looms at Bangalore where their samples have sent for further tests, and both have been quarantined.
As the new variant looms over, there is deep concern over what the government of Goa is up to asking the schools to start physical classes for the students of Class VII n VIII.
The recent film festival’s consequences are yet to be seen. And the state of affairs that will go into assembly elections which means rallies after rallies with arrivals of party leaders.
We would like to remind the government how due to its deaf ear to listen even to his own ministers, Goa saw the worst of Corona virus in the second wave and many families lost their precious dear ones. It is sad to see that the sops are relaxed the way the beaches, markets, and other places are overcrowded and the entry into the State also taken for granted. A call to the people not to forget that we are still not freed of the virus as our neighbouring States are reeling with nipah.
It is important that the government takes cognisance of the statements issued by the Union health Secretary and the World Health Organisation (WHO) where Union health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to State governments asking them to step up containment and surveillance measures for Covid after the emergence of the Omicron variant, first detected in South Africa.
The health ministry noted that countries where Omicron had been detected had been labeled as ‘high risk’, warranting follow-up surveillance of international travellers. The new more contagious B.1.1.529 variant, is designated as a ‘variant of concern by the WHO. And countries like Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong, Israel, UK has been identified.
The health ministry said “It is imperative that intensive containment, active surveillance, increased coverage of vaccination and Covid appropriate behaviour be enforced in a very proactive measure to effectively manage this variant of concern. Ample testing infrastructure need to be operationalised to tackle any surge due to this mutated virus. It has been observed that the overall testing as well as the proportion of RT-PCR tests has declined in some States. In the absence of sufficient testing, it is extremely difficult to determine the true level of infection spread.”
In a letter to Modi, Kejriwal noted “We should do everything possible to prevent the new variant of concern, recently recognised by the WHO, from entering India… I urge you to stop flights from these regions with immediate effect. Any delay in this regard may prove harmful, if any affected person enters India.”
Will the Goa Chief Minister take necessary measures to prevent any untoward incident and avoid the surge in numbers, before blaming or holding anyone responsible? Can the Govt get the home work done of getting prepared?
