Covid 4th wave in India soon: What Karnataka Health Minister said on XE variant
Premium- Please ensure that all your vaccination doses are completed at the earliest, Karnataka Health Minister said
With new COVID variants, including Omicron hybrid strain XE, circulating, Karnataka Health Minister Dr. K Sudhakar urged all to complete their COVID-19 vaccination doses at the earliest. Also, the minister said that the state is prepared to face the 4th COVID wave.
"Please ensure that all your vaccination doses are completed at the earliest," urged Sudhakar after a meeting with the COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) amid a rise in cases of the XE variant COVID-19. He further appealed to people to wear masks, stating that the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Kanpur has predicted another COIVD-19 wave around June and July.
Regarding XE variant, which is already circulating in eight different countries including China, Hong Kong, South Korea, UK and Germany, he said that similar cases are on the rise in Delhi and Haryana.
"TAC has suggested thermal screening, strict surveillance, mandatory quarantine for a period of 7-10 days for passengers arriving from these eight countries. The government will soon release guidelines regarding this," said Sudhakar.
Vaccination
Speaking about vaccination, he said "4.77 crore (98 per cent) of people under the 60 plus category have taken the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine and only 49 per cent of people have taken their precautionary dose. There already is a declined immunity in this age group. I urge everyone to please complete all doses."
"Some have blamed the government for the COVID-19 wave and shortage of vaccines in the past. Now, there is an adequate supply and we have made several requests to people to take the vaccine. People should take the vaccine and cooperate with the government," he added.
Hospital charges
Regarding the hospital overcharging, the Minister said the government would not tolerate this. "We have received complaints of some hospitals overcharging for vaccines. The government will not tolerate this," he said.
Sudhakar said that a high-level meeting has been held and the committee has been formed in this regard. The capped prices for CT scans, MRI and others must be considered as the new prices for the future and not just for COVID-19.