Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will chair a high-level virtual meeting with the health ministers of Southern states’, Union territories today at 2.30 pm to review the COVID-19 situation and public health preparedness as well as response measures being taken in the context of Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. The health ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands will attend the meeting, official sources told ANI. The meeting will also be attended by Senior health officials also.
Meanwhile, Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Thursday said that most of the positive COVID-19 samples, sent for the genome sequencing, are being tested positive for the Omicron variant of the virus while there are fewer Delta variant samples.
Speaking to reporters, George said, “Continuous sequencing of Covid positive samples is being done. Almost 94 per cent of samples test positive for Omicron and 6 per cent for delta.” George said: “It is now clear that the third wave in Kerala is the Omicron wave.”
