'Omicron' Not Yet In India, States Told To Scale Up Testing: Government

The 'Omicron' strain - earlier identified as B.1.1.529 and now designated by the World Health Organization's as a 'variant of concern' - is believed to have 50 mutations

The 'Omicron' strain - first detected in South Africa last week and since in over a dozen countries since, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Hong Kong - has not yet been detected in India, government officials have said.

Faced with the threat of 'Omicron' - the new highly transmissible coronavirus strain that poses a "very high" global risk - the government today called on states and UTs to scale up Covid testing rates for early identification and management of cases.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan met with senior officials to underline the fact 'Omicron' does not, at this time, escape detection from existing Covid tests, including (crucially) the cheaper and faster antigen tests that experts have said often returns a false negative.

States and UTs have been asked to ensure augmentation of health infrastructure and supervised home isolation, as well as focusing on intensive containment, active surveillance, monitoring of hotspots, and widening vaccine coverage.