The Maharashtra health department on Thursday night said 2 per cent of the international passengers arriving at the state's airports will be tested randomly amid concern of a possible spike in COVID-19 cases due to detection of the BF.7 sub-variant of Omicron which is said to be driving the latest surge in infections in neighbouring China. The state government has not made masks mandatory for people, but has advised their use by elderly persons and high-risk populations, including those with comorbidities (having existing illnesses), the health department said in a statement. A state task force has been formed to guide the government for expert inputs, while district authorities have been asked to review the situation at their own level through existing committees. District administrations and civic bodies have been asked to ramp up testing and every positive RT-PCR swab sample should be sent for genome sequencing to detect any new variant, the health department added. Genomic ...
