Alert in state on new Covid strain

JAIPUR: Following the new set of SOPs issued by the Centre for passengers who reached the country from the UK between November 25 and December 23,

the state health department

has alerted all the

chief medical health officers

to identify such passengers and conduct their RT-PCR tests.

Besides, the health department has strengthened screening for Covid of passengers landing at airports in the state especially those travelling by international flights.

“We have been hearing about the new strain of Covid in the UK, which is more infectious. We are alert. Our government and health department is working hard for ensuring the safety of people,” said Raghu Sharma, health minister.

Acting on the SOPs issued by the Centre, the health department has started reaching to people who have travelled from UK and reached the state recently. “All CMHOs have been alerted. Our teams are identifying all people who travelled from UK and reached the state from Nomember 25 to December 23. We are following all the guidelines,” said a senior health department official.

“We have strengthened surveillance at airport. We have been conducting screening of passengers travelling by international flights. We have been doing it for a long time. We are keeping an eye on passengers travelling from the UK through different routes as direct flights from the UK have been banned due to safety reasons,” said the official.

In Jaipur, health department officials have started collecting the details. “We are putting efforts to find out if anyone reached the city from the UK recently,” said Dr

Narrottam Sharma

, chief medical health officer, Jaipur.

Health department officials said they were yet to get the reports from the districts on UK travelers.


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