Omicron: Bengaluru apartments can only allow fully-vaccinated people to enter premises, says CM

The Karnataka government on Friday told all apartment owners’ associations to allow only those people to enter the premises who have taken both shots of the coronavirus vaccine, The Hindu reported.

The decision was taken after India’s first two patients infected with the Omicron variant of coronavirus were detected in Karnataka on Thursday. Omicron, according to the World Health Organization, is a “variant of concern” because of its increased transmissibility, infectivity, or resistance to vaccines.

On Friday, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai announced a slew of measures to prevent the further spread of coronavirus, The Hindu reported.

He has asked the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike to declare a cluster when three cases of infections are detected in an apartment or its locality. Earlier, a cluster would comprise 10 coronavirus patients from an apartment or an area.

“People in these clusters will be tested, treated and made sure they are vaccinated,” Bommai said, according to Deccan Herald.

However, the chief minister said that the emergence of clusters in apartments, schools and hostels was the government’s “second problem”. Its first, according to Bommai, is to understand the Omicron variant.

“I have asked the Health Department to get a full report – what is the treatment protocol being followed in countries where Omicron has been reported,” Bommai said. “There’s information that the treatment given…

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