Fresh curbs on people from 8 nations?

NT Correspondent

Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K. Sudhakar has appealed to people to complete their vaccination doses at the earliest.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with the COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee in the wake of a rise in cases of the XE variant of COVID-19 in some nations, he said cases of Covid were going up in 8 countries including China, Hong Kong, South Korea, UK and Germany. Some cases have been reported in Delhi and Haryana too.

The 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. People must wear masks and follow Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) as IIT Kanpur has predicted another COIVD-19 wave around June and July, he said.

The minister also said many people have not taken the second dose of the vaccine. As many as 4.77 crore ( 9 8 % ) people in the 60+ category have however taken the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine but only 49 per cent have taken their precautionary dose. Since immunity declines in this age group, people concerned must complete all doses without fail, he added.

Sudhakar recalled that the government was blamed for the previous COVID-19 waves and shortage of vaccines. Now, there is adequate supply of vaccines. In the 15- 17 age group, 25,11,407 people out of 30,00,000 have taken the vaccine which is 79% of the targeted group but only 65% have taken the second dose, he said.

In the 12-14 age group, only 13,96,000 children have received the vaccine of 20,00,000 which means 69% coverage. As there are no vaccines for young kids, 5000 children will be tested across the state.

“We have received complaints of hospitals overcharging for vaccines. The government will not tolerate this. A meeting has been held and a committee has been formed. The capped prices for CT scans, MRI etc. must be considered as the new prices for future,’’ he said.