The third wave of Covid-19 and the new Omicron variant has started its surge and fear among people in India. The Maharashtra government has issued orders for mandatory RT-PCR tests for all international passengers landing in Mumbai airport to limit the virus’s surge.
Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded 18,466 new coronavirus positive cases. The state health department stated that around 52% or 6,303 cases were more than the previous day’s calculation. Moreover, 20 fatalities were also recorded on Tuesday.
Maharashtra government has set new rules for both symptomatic and asymptomatic positive cases. Therefore, if a passenger is symptomatic, they will be taken to SevenHills Hospital or Breach Candy Hospital.
On the hard hand, if a passenger is asymptomatic, they will be taken to BKC or Kanjurmarg BMC Jumbo Covid centre or a hotel set for quarantine.
The state health department further stated that Maharashtra’s overall COVID-19 tally increased to 67,30,494 and the death toll to 1,41,573.
Maharashtra registered 75 new cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 653 so far. The threat of the new Omicron variant is worrying people, and concerning its surge, the state government has earlier imposed Section 144 ahead of New Year Eve.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) stated that the SOP released last week was in force till Monday. Therefore, on Tuesday. BMC announced new guidelines for the state.
“All international passengers who test positive in rapid RT-PCR Test shall undergo routine RT-PCR test at the airport itself,” the modified order stated.
“If this sample (routine RT-PCR) test is negative, then the passenger will be allowed to go home for mandatory home quarantine for 7 days,” the revised guidelines added.
The surge is caused by the highly infectious Omicron variant, as the state’s COVID-19 task force has notified the civic body that the new variant is causing around 80 per cent of the new cases in the city.
