Mumbai: Passengers arriving at Mumbai airport from South Africa will be quarantined after a more contagious new coronavirus variant called Omicron was identified in the country earlier this week. The City’s mayor Kishori Pednekar announced on November 27.
“Genome sequencing of passengers will also be done if they are found COVID-19 positive”, news agency ANI said quoting the mayor.
Every person returning from South Africa will be quarantined on arrival in Mumbai and their samples will be sent for genome sequencing: Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar pic.twitter.com/bQwGlajO4Z
— ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2021
Genome is like an instruction manual that contains information about the make-up of an organism, and genome sequencing is a technique that reads and interprets genetic information.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has called a meeting of senior officials at 5:30 pm on November 27 on the new COVID-19 variant, according to reports.
The new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, first detected in South Africa this week, was designated as a Variant of Concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on November 26, which named it Omicron. A variant of concern is the WHO’s top category of worrying COVID-19 variants. It was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on November 24, and has also been identified in Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel. A number of countries around the world have now decided to ban or restrict travel to and from these six southern Africa nations.
Earlier on the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired an important meeting amid rising global concerns over the new coronavirus strain. The meeting is being attended by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, P K Mishra, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and NITI Aayog member (health) Dr V K Paul among others.
The spike protein is the target of most current COVID-19 vaccines and is what the virus uses to unlock access to our body’s cells. Researchers are still trying to confirm whether this makes it more transmissible or lethal than earlier variants, and if existing vaccines can protect against the strain.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
