Delhi government to hold meeting with DDMA on threat of new Covid variant from African countries

On Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) to discuss steps that need to be taken in view of threat of a new COVID-19 variant from African countries.

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During the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year, Delhi was one of the badly affected cities in the country. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted from his official Twitter handle, "In view of the threat from new COVID variant from African countries, we have requested experts to make a presentation to DDMA on Mon and suggest what steps we shud take. We will take all steps necessary to protect u and ur family."

In view of the threat from new COVID variant from African countries, we have requested experts to make a presentation to DDMA on Mon and suggest what steps we shud take. We will take all steps necessary to protect u and ur family

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 26, 2021

A PTI report stated that on Thursday, the Centre has asked all states and union territories to conduct rigorous screening and testing of all international travellers coming from or transiting through South Africa, Hong Kong and Botswana, where a new COVID-19 variant of serious public health implications has been reported.

According to an ANI report, the newly identified COVID-19 variant, B.1.1.529 is causing an increase in coronavirus infections in South Africa. Furthermore, the World Health Organisation  (WHO) has called for a special meeting to discuss this newly found COVID variant.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical head on COVID-19 said in a briefing, "We don't know very much about this yet. What we do know is that this variant has a large number of mutations. And the concern is that when you have so many mutations, it can have an impact on how the virus behaves."

Today, as per the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), India recorded 10,549 new COVID-19 cases and 488 deaths over the last 24 hours.