After Karnataka's Omicron Cases, CM Bommai to Chair Meet on Booster Shots, Covid Norms | Top Updates

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.

India had on Thursday reported its first two cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 from Karnataka – in a South African national and a Bengaluru doctor with no travel history and both men fully vaccinated. The state is geared up for a number of important decisions amid the developments.

A look at top updates:

• The meeting will discuss measures to prevent the spread of new variant of Covid and the strategies to control it, Bommai said, adding that the issue will be discussed with experts of the union government as well. “Action would be taken to formulate new guidelines,” he said.

• 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 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.

• “We have been testing the people coming from South Africa. We have to have a different protocol in place after discussions on required protocols with experts,” the CM had said on Thursday.

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