Chennai, Dec 27: A four-member Central team has landed in the city
to assess the situation in view of the emergence of the Omicron variant of
the coronavirus.
The team consisted of Dr Vineeta, Dr Purbasa, Dr M Santhosh Kumar and
Dr Dinesh Babu and would camp in the State for five days.
Tamil Nadu has so far reported 34 cases of Omicron variant of which 12 of
them were discharged after treatment. The remaining 22 people were
undergoing treatment at the government and private hospitals.
During their stay, the team members would hold discussions with Tamil Nadu
Health Minister Ma.Subramanian, Health Secretary Dr.J.Radhakrishnan and
other officials and assess the situation.
They would visit some of the government hospitals in the city to inspect the
facilities put in place for treating Omicron-infected people, the number of beds
and oxygen facilities before to other districts to review the arrangements.
In view of the increase in fresh Covid-19 infections in the country, the Centre
decided to deploy multi-disciplinary teams to 10 states identified with surge in
Omicron numbers, apart from continued rise in Covid-19 cases and slow
vaccination pace.
The central teams will help add teeth to the efforts of the states and district
administrations for management of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The teams will specifically look into contact tracing, surveillance, containment operations, vaccination process, besides availability of hospital beds, sufficient logistics, ambulance, ventilators, medical oxygen,” official sources said.
The Ministry has also asked the teams to assess the situation, suggest remedial actions and
submit a report daily.
