New Delhi: Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla will attend a review meeting on Covid-19 with Union Territories on Thursday afternoon, amid fears of the B.1.1.529 COVID-19 variant or Omicron. According to Home Ministry sources, the meeting is a "normal review meeting on Covid-19" set at 3 p.m.

The meeting will be held via video conferencing to discuss the COVID-19 situation in the Union Territories, steps to prevent the spread of the new variant of the deadly pandemic Omicron, and the need to focus on some specific areas that could be the cause of the virus's further spread, according to a source.  The discussion takes place as fears grow about the spread of the potentially more dangerous coronavirus variant "Omicron" throughout numerous countries.

The conference will be attended by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, as well as officials from the Ministries of Home Affairs and Health and Family Welfare, as well as officials from the UTs.

The Health Secretary held a similar review conference with States and UTs in November last year, advising them to strengthen testing for early detection and management of cases due to the recently discovered Omicron strain of Covid-19.

The states and UTs were then advised to provide enough infrastructure and monitored home isolation, while emphasising that the novel variation is not resistant to RT-PCR and RAT tests.

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