Tests for flyers from risk nations begins at Chennai airport

“At 12 am, a British Airways flight is scheduled to arrive at the Chennai airport and all passengers have to undergo the test. They will not be allowed to go home for six hours till they receive the results,” a senior airport official said while clarifying that since there are no direct flights from African nations, no passenger has arrived in Chennai recently.

Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan discussed preparedness against emergence of Omicron in Tamil Nadu with the Union Health Secretary on Tuesday. He said that adequate measures are in place at all the airports in the State and monitoring of foreign arrivals have been intensified. “So far, no samples have been sent for genomic sequencing as the new guidelines come into effect from tomorrow and with the addition of more number of countries to the ‘at-risk’ list, we might have some suspected samples that would need genomic sequencing,” said Dr P Sampath, Joint Director (EPI), Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. While extending the current COVID restrictions till December 15, the government on Tuesday permitted buses to Kerala. “Buses to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are already plying,” Chief Minister MK Stalin said in a release. He also said the strategy of the Test-Track-Treat-Vaccination-COVID-19 appropriate behaviour’ will be strictly followed in TN.

Also, the Centre on Tuesday advised states and UTs to ramp up testing and undertake effective surveillance of international passengers, asserting that the Omicron variant does not escape RT-PCR and RAT tests as it extended the nationwide COVID-19 containment measures till December 31. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told Parliament that Omicron cases have has not been reported in India yet.