Rajouri: The authorities in Rajouri district are gearing up to make arrangements for tackling Omicron, a new variant of coronavirus that has been termed a “Virus of Concern”.
Although the number of active COVID-19 positive cases in the district is 16 and the recovery rate is healthy, the daily count of new cases during the past few days has been between three and five.
Officials said that after the directions of the higher authorities, officials were gearing up to prepare for a situation if Omicron cases are reported in the district.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Rajouri, Dr Shamim Bhatti said that the government had issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for dealing with Omicron cases.
“Although all the foreign travellers are properly screened at airports and other government institutions, we still have followed a procedure devised by the government,” she said.
Dr Bhatti said that soon after a foreign traveller would reach the district, he would be sent for one-week home isolation after which samples would be taken and sent for genome sequencing.
“In case any sample is found positive for omicron, the patient will have to be sent to a higher institution facility,” she said.
Medical Superintendent of Government Medical College and Associated Hospital (GMC&AH) Rajouri, Dr Mehmood H Bajar told Greater Kashmir that in case there was a rise in coronavirus cases, they had adequate oxygen supply in the hospital.
“The in-generation of oxygen from three oxygen plants at the hospital is 4250 Litres Per Minute (LPM) while we also have adequate 600 to 700 oxygen cylinders,” Dr Bajar said.
He said that a 20-bedded corona-specific Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was ready while the hospital also had a 24-bedded general ICU in different departments.
“Our staff is well trained to deal with corona cases as we did during the past 2 years,” Dr Bajar said. “The required life-saving drugs, consumables, and PPE kits have been stocked in adequate quantity.”
He said that the genome sequencing of coronavirus samples that establish the presence of Omicron variant in a patient was yet not available at the hospital and that they have to send the samples for genome sequencing to a better facility.