Wear masks, take precaution dose: LNJP med director

New Delhi: LNJP Hospital medical director Suresh Kumar on Thursday urged people to take the precaution dose of COVID-19 and not let their guard down during the upcoming festive season.

Kumar's appeal comes after the Centre urged all states and Union Territories to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive samples to keep track of emerging variants

amid a spike in Covid cases in Japan, South Korea, Brazil, China and the US.

The British-era hospital located in central Delhi has 2,000 beds and was the first to be turned into a Covid care facility soon after the first case of coronavirus was reported in early March in 2020. At present, the hospital has 450 dedicated Covid

beds, including 50 ICU beds, Kumar said.

"We have a genome sequencing lab at the hospital. Covid is not over yet but at the same time we are fully prepared," he added. In October this year, the Delhi government issued an order withdrawing the Rs 500 fine for not wearing masks in public places in the capital. The order, however, advised people to wear masks in crowded public places.

In a meeting in September, the DDMA had decided to stop levying the penalty after September 30 amid a decline in Covid cases. Kumar advised people to wear masks and take the booster doses of COVID-19 as it will protect them from the risk of infection. "I want to appeal to the people to take the booster dose. Only 27 per cent of the eligible population has taken the booster dose which is not good," he added. He also suggested that people should

take special care of senior citizens and children, since "we do not know the severity of the new variant".