Ghaziabad: Travellers from high-risk nations to be in home quarantine for a week

Move comes in the wake of the World Health Organization (WHO) asking countries to widely test for the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus, saying its divergent design could fuel future surges of the disease with severe consequences

In the wake of the World Health Organization (WHO) asking countries to widely test for the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus, saying its divergent design could fuel future surges of the disease with severe consequences, the Ghaziabad health department has directed all foreign travellers reaching the district from 15 “high-risk countries” to be in home quarantine for a week, officials said on Monday.

A man gets a dose of Covid-19 vaccine at a Ghaziabad hospital on Monday. (Sakib Ali/HT)

According to the officials, the decision has been taken as a precautionary measure against any possible spread of the new variant. Health department teams and the integrated covid command and control centre (ICCCC) in the district will monitor such travellers during their home quarantine, they added.

“The list mostly includes South-African nations among the 15 high-risk countries. While returning or coming to India, a traveller should have the RT-PCR report with him/her, and thereafter the person will have to stay in home quarantine for a week. During this period, our teams will conduct tests on the person and his/her family members. The traveller will be again tested for Covid-19 after one week, and further action will be taken accordingly. In case the person tests Covid-19 positive, we will get genome-sequencing done for the samples,” said Dr Bhavtosh Shankhdhar, chief medical officer (CMO) of Ghaziabad.

He also said that the health department has called on several resident welfare associations (RWAs) to take proactive measures to check a possible spread of the new Covid-19 variant. “The RWAs are requested to inform the health department if residents or people are coming in the housing complexes from states with high caseload, and mandatorily about the arrival of travellers from abroad. In the meantime, we have also asked our teams to step up the regular Covid-19 vaccination, and it will take us another fortnight to complete our assigned target for the first-dose vaccination,” Shankhdhar added.

According to official records, 1,770 foreign travellers entered the district between November 1 and November 29 (Monday), and 979 of them have tested negative for Covid-19 and test reports of the remaining people are awaited.

“Given addresses have not matched in 329 instances, and 128 of the tested people are from other cities or districts. Overall, 334 test reports are under the process. So far, none of the foreign travellers tested positive for the virus. If they do, we will get the genome-sequencing done,” said Dr Rakesh Gupta, district surveillance officer, Ghaziabad.

The WHO warned on Monday that the divergent design of the Omicron variant could fuel surges with “severe consequences” in the future. In a technical briefing document for its member states, the United Nations (UN) health agency said that the likelihood of a potential spread of Omicron at the global level is high, and the overall risk related to the new variant of concern has been assessed as “very high”.

At present, the local transmission of Omicron has been reported in South Africa and it has now been detected in four WHO regions -- African, Eastern Mediterranean, European, and Western Pacific.

District may miss first dose of vax deadline

In connection with the target deadline of November 30 (Tuesday) set by the Uttar Pradesh government for vaccination, Ghaziabad in all probability is likely to miss the first-dose vaccination target of 2,702,167. According to the official data, the district has administered the first dose of vaccines to only 2,405,663 beneficiaries till 4.30pm on Monday. So, the district is short of administering 296,504 doses of Covid-19 vaccines to the beneficiaries, said the officials.

“We will try to complete the target in another fortnight. We have already taken up all necessary measures, including door-to-door surveys and holding evening vaccination camps. But there is a general tendency among the beneficiaries to not turn up as Covid-19 cases are almost negligible in the district,” CMO Shankhdhar added.

Dr GP Mathuria, nodal officer for Covid-19 vaccination in the district, said, “Most of the beneficiaries who have not turned up for taking the jab are senior citizens or more than 18 years of age. We urge them to take the jab to protect themselves and others from Covid-19.”

Despite all the efforts to meet the vax deadline, the Ghaziabad health department administered 130,706 doses of vaccines between November 22 and November 28 (Monday), at a daily average of 18,672 doses. During the week prior to this, the department administered 111,580 doses of vaccines, with a daily average of 15,940 doses per day.