Omicron fear: Centre to review decision on restarting commercial international flights

In view of new COVID-19 Variant of Concern ‘Omicron’, the Central Government on Sunday (November 28) said that it would review a decision on resuming commercial international passenger flights after reviewing the “evolving global scenario”. The statement comes after several countries imposed travel restrictions on some southern African countries due to the new coronavirus variant, Omicron.

The Union Home Secretary called an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss growing concerns about the new coronavirus variant of concern, Omicron.

The meeting was attended by Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, Dr Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to Prime Minister, and senior officers from Health, Civil Aviation and other ministries. 

The overall global situation in the aftermath of Omicron was thoroughly reviewed at the meeting. Various preventive measures that are already in place and need to be strengthened were discussed during the meeting.

The Centre has asked all states and UTs to focus on intensive containment, active surveillance, enhanced testing, monitoring of hotspots, increased coverage of vaccination and augmentation of health infrastructure.