The Odisha government on Monday sounded alert in districts bordering Andhra Pradesh following the detection of an Omicron variant in Vizianagaram in the neighbouring state.

Director of Medical Education and Training R. R. Mohanty told The Telegraph, “We are in a state of vigil. There is no need to panic. All the district collectors have been asked to stay alert. In case of any suspicion, the cases should be reported immediately. Foreign returnees are being tested at the airport. No case of Omicron has been detected in the state so far. All have been advised to follow Covid appropriate behaviour.”

Mohanty said: “A meeting is on to finalise the details of procedure on what to be done in this regard. We have already had one round of meetings on this issue and accordingly collectors have been briefed.”

Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO), Koraput, M. Beura told The Telegraph, “We are keeping a close watch on people with reported Covid symptoms. We have asked the health workers to keep a close watch on the people returning to their area.”

In Andhra, a 34-year-old who returned from Ireland to his native place Vizianagaram in November was found to be Omicron positive. Though his test was found to be negative in Mumbai, at his native place he was found to be Omicron positive. He has been cured of the disease and the RT-PCR result on December 11 showed no presence of Omicron variant of Covid-19 in his blood.

What is a cause of concern for Odisha is that the people of southern Odisha, enjoy socio-cultural ties with Andhra Pradesh. They mostly rely on Andhra Pradesh and visit Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, and other places on a daily basis for different purposes starting from business to other activities. The people of Andhra Pradesh also come on a daily basis to the bordering areas of Odisha to supply eggs, fish, and other products.

Meanwhile, the health department is taking all possible steps to save the people of the state from the new Omicron variant of Covid-19. As many as 982 people from eight different foreign countries designated 'at-risk' from the Omicron variant of Covid-19 have returned to Odisha.

“Nearly 400 samples from the foreign returnees have been sent for genome sequencing to trace if they are infected with the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 but there is no need to press the panic button,” said the director, State public health, Niranjan Mishra.

What is a major concern is that nearly 41 lakh people in the state are yet to be inoculated with the first dose of the Covid vaccine.

“Earlier we had sent over 400 samples for genome sequencing and all of them were found to be negative. We are careful about it. People should come forward to take the vaccine,” said a health government official.

“We have to be careful as far as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is concerned. Children are more at risk due to the new variant and necessary pediatric management is being ensured at various hospitals across the State,” said officials.

Covid-19 continues to claim lives in the state where two deaths due to the virus were confirmed in the last 24 hours. With these casualties, the overall death toll in the state due to the pandemic has touched 8,436.