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The Karnataka government has directed health department officials in the state to intensify the surveillance following the reports of a potential new variant of concern — the XE variant. The new variant is a hybrid of two Omicron strains, BA.1 and BA.2.
According to Karnataka health department officials, the government has already begun the random sample checks on international passengers arriving in the state. Passengers coming from the UK are being checked in particular since the new variant was detected in the UK. Samples of those testing positive will be sent for genome sequencing, added the officials.
So far no one has tested positive for the new variant.
According to D Randeep, Commissioner, Department of Health, said that from January 71 Covid-positive travellers from the UK have arrived in Karnataka. Of these cases, 57 came in January, 11 in February, 3 in March and none till April 2. “All of them have shown BA.2 variant of Omicron but not the XE variant,” he said.
Meanwhile, the government is yet to take a decision on removing the requirement for wearing masks. Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar had said that a meeting will be held with the Chief Minister and the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on cancelling the mandatory rule to wear masks.
“Already, four states in the country have relaxed the rule of compulsory wearing of face masks. Nearly 90% of people who wander around in public do not wear face masks. No one is even slapping fine on them. So, in a way, this is like undeclared cancellation of wearing face masks. I will discuss the matter with the chief minister, the minister had said.
A member of TAC said that the meeting stands postponed at present.
The government has currently stopped fining people for wearing masks since the union government has withdrawn the Covid-19 norms under the Disaster Management Act. Currently, while the mask guideline is an advisory and in the absence of the DMA, no penalty cannot be levied for violation.
A survey by Local Circles, a social media platform, found that despite people knowing that wearing face masks is the second-best prevention after vaccination for Covid-19, they do not follow the mask rule. “67% of citizens say there is limited or no mask compliance in their area, district or city. Also, in Karnataka, 51% of them have said that people have a mask but don’t wear it properly,” the survey stated.
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