Avoid New Year celebrations at public places, follow protocols: Ma Subramanian amid Omicron scare

As the numbers of Covid cases in Chennai continue to increase, people should avoid New Year gatherings and celebrations, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said on Tuesday. 

He said that the New Year celebrations at public spaces will be monitored to check if they follow Covid appropriate behaviour. "The compliance to wearing of masks in public places has declined and people should not show negligence. It is necessary that public ensures wearing of masks is public places," he said.

An expert committee along with Chief Minister M K Stalin can decide on the restrictions to be imposed for the celebrations, but we urge people to keep the Covid safety measures in place.

He added that a total 118 people have been found to have S-gene-drop and about 42 sample reports are awaited after they reported S-gene-drop and National Institute of Virology is to issue the whole genomic sequencing report for the same. There are five patients of Omicron who are being treated at hospitals and others have been discharged. A total of 34 cases of Omicron have been reported in the State so far.