Omicron: Are we prepared?

The deadliest variant of COVID-19 has reached India as two persons from Karnataka have been tested positive in Karnataka. The government in the last few days has been on toes to ensure that the situation is tackled in an easy manner. In this regard, the government has issued fresh directions to the concerned departments and has also issued fresh guidelines with regard to the international travelers. The government is focused on ensuring that no traveler especially those coming from ‘at risk’ countries are tested properly and kept under quarantine for the suitable period of time. The health department is keeping a close watch on the travelers for the last couple of days. But, keeping watch on the travelers only would not help in protecting the precious lives. There is a need to gear up at the ground level as well. The concerned department should take all the measures to deal with any eventuality in the future. The people of Kashmir have seen oxygen shortage, dearth of beds and what not, but as the new variant is 500 percent competitively infectious, there is a need to set all the things in right direction to ensure that the common people, who may get affected to the new variant, would be able to get reasonable treatment. Keeping in view of the situation witnessed in other countries due to the new variant, the government must ensure everything is up to the mark so that the possible flow of the patients could be tackled easily and the situation is prevented from turning ugly.