Covid-19: Home secretary chairs meet to review preparedness in Union territories

The meeting took place amid rising cases of the Omicron Covid-19 variant in the country.

Updated on: Dec 16, 2021, 18:19:54 IST

By hindustantimes.com, New Delhi

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Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla chaired a meeting on Thursday to review the Covid-19 situation in Union territories, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) said, adding that during the meeting, the preparedness of the UTs to deal with the pandemic was reviewed as well.

“Union Home Secretary chaired meeting today along with Union Health Secretary to review Covid-19 situation in UTs. Preparedness of health infrastructure of all UTs to deal with COVID-19 was also reviewed,” spokesperson, MHA, shared on Twitter.

Thursday's meeting took place amid rising cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in the country. At least 77 Omicron cases have been detected across the nation thus far; Delhi and Chandigarh are the two UTs where patients of this latest variant have been found. While Delhi has seen 10 cases of Omicron, Chandigarh has seen a lone patient.

Also Read | Delhi adds 4 more cases of Omicron variant, India tally climbs to 77

The remaining 66 cases have been found in states. While Maharashtra leads at 32, Rajasthan is next at 17. Gujarat, Karnataka, West Bengal, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are the other states where patients of the B.1.1.529 variant have been found.

On the Covid-19 front, India added 7974 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, while 343 more deaths were recorded due to it. The nationwide tally currently stands at 34,720,602 including 34,154,879 recoveries, 476,478 deaths and 87,245 active cases.

(With inputs from PTI)

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