The Ranchi district administration has set up a separate 20-bed isolation centre at Sadar Hospital for international and interstate travellers coming from Omicron-affected states and countries if they test positive for Covid-19 upon arrival in the City capital, officials said on Sunday.
The development has come in the wake of growing cases of infection caused by Omicron variant of the deadly virus in at least three states/union territories well-connected to Jharkhand by air and railways.“Initially, only passengers with international travel history were supposed to be kept in this separate isolation centre, but with cases of Omicron infection spreading in some Indian states too, Covid positive people travelling from such states will also be kept at this isolation centre,” said Civil Surgeon Dr. Vinod Kumar.
The passengers, who test negative for Covid-19 in RT PCR tests conducted after a week’s stay at the isolation centre, will be allowed to stay in home quarantine for 14 more days, Kumar added.
The protocols for checking the spread of Omicron cases are changing frequently, said Kumar, adding that genome sequencing of the samples collected from passengers who test positive for Covid-19 will also be done to check if the person in question was infected by Omicron variant or some other variant of Coronavirus. While Jharkhand has already intensified screening of passengers arriving at the Birsa Munda Airport and the two railway stations here daily, it was important to set up separate isolation centres for Omicron-infected individuals in a bid to prevent the spread of this variant of coronavirus in locals, officials said.The new and more transmissible variant of coronavirus, Omicron, which first surfaced in South Africa, has already spread to several other countries including India.
Cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection caused by this new variant of the virus have already been reported in Maharashtra, Karnataka and New Delhi. Several flights and trains connect Ranchi to Mumbai, Bengalore and Delhi, and thousands of passengers from Maharashtra, Karnataka and the national capital enter Jharkhand every day.
The two leading government hospitals in Ranchi, the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) and Sadar Hospital, have also been instructed to ramp up facilities for Covid patients amid a growing fear of a rise in cases. Doctors from RIMS said that they have readied over 300 additional Covid beds in the wake of a rise in cases of Omicron infection.
