Passengers from 'at risk' countries need to undergo RT-PCR test on arrival: Lav Agarwal

In the wake of the new coronavirus variant Omicron, Union Health Ministry's Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said that passengers arriving from 'at risk' countries need to undergo RT-PCR test on arrival and if found positive for COVID-19, they will be treated under clinical management protocol.

In the wake of the new coronavirus variant Omicron, Union Health Ministry's Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said that passengers arriving from 'at risk' countries need to undergo RT-PCR test on arrival and if found positive for COVID-19, they will be treated under clinical management protocol. Joint Secretary Agarwal, during a press briefing here on Thursday, stated that if passengers arriving from "at risk" countries tested negative for COVID-19, they will follow home quarantine for 7 days.

He also said that a surge in COVID-19 cases is being noted across the world on an overall basis. Europe reported 70 per cent of the cases in the world in the last one week, he said, adding, in the week ending on November 28, around 2.75 lakh new cases and over 31,000 deaths were reported in the European region.

The World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday had said that the new Omicron variant of coronavirus has been confirmed in 23 countries and their number is expected to rise. "WHO takes this development extremely seriously, and so should every country. But it should not surprise us. This is what viruses do. And it's what this virus will continue to do, as we long as we allow it to continue spreading," he said. (ANI)

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