Omicron: Screening of international passengers begins at Calicut airport
The Hindu
Body fluid samples of infected to be sent for genome testing
Screening of international passengers from 12 countries has begun at the Calicut International Airport in the wake of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 being designated as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organisation, Kozhikode District Medical Officer Ummer Farooq has said.
He told the media on Monday that those found positive would be isolated and others who are negative would be quarantined for a week. Positive patients would be tested again after eight days and if they are found to be negative, they would have to be isolated for another week. If the positive patients turn out to test positive again, they would be put in institutional quarantine. Another test would be conducted on the 14th day again. Body fluid samples of infected persons would be sent for genome sequencing to the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnlogy, Thiruvananthapuram. The screening at the airport is done by the DMO office, Malappuram.
The Shakti Scheme in Karnataka has completed its first year, yet the smart cards intended for the beneficiaries remain undistributed. According to Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, while the smart cards have been prepared, their issuance has been stalled due to the absence of electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) in all buses, making them impractical.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashok were engaged in war of words over the Lok Sabha election results on Tuesday, with the former calling the latter “ignorant and entertaining people”. In response, Mr. Ashok said the Chief Minister “sometimes wakes up from deep slumber to exhibit his arrogance and anger”.
Makineni Jishnu Sai from Guntur secured the first position in the engineering stream while Yellu Srishant Reddy from Nizampet in Telangana bagged the first place in the Agriculture and Pharmacy (Bi.P.C. stream) in the Andhra Pradesh Engineering, Agriculture and Pharmacy Common Entrance Test (EAPCET)-2024.