Karnataka CM to chair meeting on Omicron variant today, new guidelines likely soon

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will be chairing a meeting with experts, senior Ministers and officials on Friday in the wake of two cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus detected in the state, during which a new guidelines aimed at controlling its spread is likely to be formulated.

The meeting is scheduled for Friday afternoon, after the Chief Minister returns from his Delhi trip.

"An emergency meeting has been convened tomorrow with experts and senior officers. 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 was quoted as saying in a statement by his office, late on Thursday.

Out of the two cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus that have been detected in the State, one 66-year old is a South African national who had left the country after testing negative, while the other is a local person -- a doctor aged 46, with no travel history.

Five contacts of the doctor have also tested positive and their samples have been sent for genomic sequencing.

Health Minister K Sudhakar is also holding a meeting with Directors, Deans, HOD's of all departments of all Government Medical Colleges and Medical Superintendents, ahead of the Chief Minister's meeting.

"The Chief Minister will chair a meeting with senior Ministers, officials and experts, the government is seized of the matter and is on top of the measures that need to be taken, no need to worry or have unnecessary confusions or speculations," Sudhakar had said on Thursday night.

The CM on Thursday had met Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and discussed administering a booster dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 to health workers.