PATNA: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday ruled out night curfew in Bihar in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases in the state. He described the situation in Bihar as much better than other states. Talking to the media after garlanding the statue of former Prime Minister and BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his birth anniversary, Nitish said there was no need of night curfew in the state right now.
So far, Bihar has not recorded a single case of new Covid-19 variant Omicron. However, Nitish mentioned that regardless of this, Covid-related guidelines must be followed to check any possible spread of the new variant. He added that testing facilities have been strengthened in the wake of surge in Omicron cases in other parts of the country.
According to official data uploaded on the state health department’s website, 13 fresh Covid cases were reported in Bihar in the last 24 hours. A total of 212 persons were undergoing treatment at different hospitals.Till date, 7,25,497 persons have been infected with the virus in the state. Out of them, 7,15,635 have recovered. According to figures, the death tally is 9,649.
Meanwhile, sources in the health department said a Central team is likely to visit the state to take stock of preparations for Omicron. However, dates of the team’s visit have not been revealed.Earlier, the Union health ministry had sent a letter to the state’s Chief Secretary asking for information related to preparations to deal with Omicron. A senior official of health department said six teams comprising 80 officials have been formed to ensure better treatment of patients at government health facilities in the state.
The members of the teams would also monitor the functioning of the health facilities in the case of an outbreak of a fresh wave of the pandemic. Additional Chief Secretary of health department Sanjay Kumar confirmed the formation of special teams to deal with the situation. A control-cum-monitoring cell has been constituted at the headquarters to regulate the functioning of the teams.