New Variant puts Telangana govt. on alert

New variant B.1.1529 of SARS-CoV-2 virus that was reported in South Africa has put Telangana government on alert which tightened the surveillance activities at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. In the view of the new variant, health minister Harish Rao will convene a meeting with officials of health department tomorrow.

Harish Rao is likely to direct the officials on the measures to be taken up on international arrivals. It is already known that the centre has alerted the states over the new variant following which the state governments has put the health department on alert.

In the meeting, Harish Rao will direct the officials on tracing of international travellers and testing them. Travellers arrived from Botswana, South Africa, Israel, Belgium and Hong Kong are in focus. The contacts of these international travellers will also be tracked. There samples will be collected and sent to the Genome Sequencing Laboratory in Hyderabad. If they test positive, they will be immediately shifted to an isolation centre.