He was responding to a question during the Question Hour.

 

The Covid situation in the country, he said, is under control but measures are being taking to pervent it from spreading further. A total of 124 crore vaccination doses have been administered to the eligible population till date.

 

Earlier in the morning, the Union Health Secretary chaired a review meeting with the states and UTs on the emergence of the new Covid variant. The states were advised to ramp up

testing for early identification of positive cases and its management.

 

Also, the Centre has directed to extend the 'Har Ghar Dastak' campaign till December 31 with focus on 100 per cent first dose and completing backlog of second dose vaccinations.

 

The states were also asked to focus on timely testing for early identification and ensuring adequate health infrastructure.

 

On Monday, the World Health Organisation said that the overall global risk related to the new Omicron has been assessed as "very high".

 

Omicron, labelled as 'variant of concern' is a highly divergent variant with a high number of mutations, including 26-32 in the spike, some of which are concerning and may be associated with immune escape potential and higher transmissibility. However, there are still considerable uncertainties, the global health body said.

 

"Given mutations that may confer immune escape potential and possibly transmissibility advantage, the likelihood of potential further spread of Omicron at the global level is high", it said.