Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has assured that it is prepared to take all measures after it gets directives from the state Health department in regards to the latest JN.1 sub variant of coronavirus. The state Health department is already discussing measures to step up vigil in Bengal and take the necessary counter-measures. Discussions are also afoot concerning containing measures in case of a possible outbreak in the state.
Such an alert comes in the wake of the Central government getting worried after the new COVID-19 variant was detected in cases in Kerala. Even as health experts have opined that the variant is unlikely to cause severe infection, it was admitted that it is highly transmissible.
In the wake of such a scenario, the KMC too held a meeting at the civic body headquarters on Tuesday. The deputy mayor and Member Mayor In Council (MMIC), health, Atin Ghosh said: “We have asked the state Health department about the directive which has reached the state from the Centre.”
A meeting was called on Tuesday by Ghosh with all the representatives of the civic body’s Health department regarding the issue. “We will soon take a final call on what necessary measures are to be implemented. This will also include arranging for testing facilities and what message needs to be taken to the people from the state government in the form of awareness campaigns.”
During the previous Covid outbreak, KMC had taken up several measures for containment which included setting up containment zones and arranging for Covid testing at its health centres. KMC had also taken up a mass Covid vaccination programme.
Recently, KMC, in collaboration with Echo India, launched a capacity building programme to address the ‘long-covid’ cases in the city through better management by healthcare providers. According to KMC medical officers, long covid is a condition characterised by persistent symptoms and health issues that continue for weeks
or months after the initial COVID-19 infection.