Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India]: A high-level meeting with experts and senior officers has been convened on Friday to discuss the measures to be taken in the light of two Omicron cases reported in the state and formulate new guidelines, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said. Speaking to media persons in New Delhi he said, the Centre has confirmed two Omicron cases based on the report of some COVID test samples sent to National Center For Biological Sciences. But a detailed report is awaited. “I have instructed our Health minister and the Chief Secretary to obtain the detailed report. An emergency meeting has been convened tomorrow with experts and senior officers,” he said. “The meeting would discuss the measures to prevent the spread of new variant of COVID and the strategies to control it. The issue would be discussed with experts of the union government as well. Action would be taken to formulate new guidelines,” Bommai said. Bommai, who met the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya again in the light of the report, said, “The minister has stated that he would provide the details of the cases. According to preliminary reports, the effect of the variant is not too serious.” The Centre on Thursday informed that two people have tested positive for the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in Karnataka. A 46-year-old male and a 66-year-old male were those who contracted the variant. Addressing a media briefing Joint Secretary of the Union Health Ministry, Lav Agarwal said all primary and secondary contacts of the two infected persons from Karnataka have been identified and they are being monitored and COVID-protocols are being followed. The two cases of Omircron were detected through genome sequencing effort of Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) consortium of 37 laboratories established by Union Health Ministry, said Balram Bhargava, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) at today’s same press briefing. Meanwhile, Lav Agarwal informed that the Omicron variant can be five times more infectious than the other known variants of the novel Coronavirus.
