Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla advises MPs to wear masks, follow Covid protocols

New Delhi [India], December 22 (ANI): Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday advised all the MPs to wear masks and follow the Covid protocol completely, in view of the increasing cases of Covid 19 in many countries across the world.
Om Birla himself was seen operating the House wearing a mask in the House.
Lok Sabha Speaker Birla appealed to all the MPs to be careful and spread public awareness regarding Covid before the uproar by the opposition MPs during the Question Hour saying that in view of the past experiences, this time there is a need for constant caution and vigilance. The government has also advised following the Covid protocol across the country.
While advising all the MPs to use masks, Birla appealed to them to make efforts to spread public awareness in their respective areas. He said, "Just like last time we had conquered covid with collective efforts, similarly we will succeed in stopping this epidemic in the future also."
Meanwhile, a few other MPs including Raghav Chadda, Sushil Gupta, and Minister of State for skill development Rajeev Chandrasekhar were also seen wearing masks in the wake of a sudden surge in Covid cases in China and other countries. Security, Visitors, and Personal Staff also wore masks today.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level virtual meeting to review the COVID-19 situation and its related aspects in the county.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Health Miniter Mansukh Mandaviya, and NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Parameswaran Iyer were among the others who participated in the meeting.
The meeting comes a day after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya reviewed the coronavirus situation in a meeting with high-level officials. He urged people to follow COVID-appropriate behavior and get vaccinated against the virus. Emphasizing that COVID-19 is not over yet, he asked the officials to be fully geared up and strengthen surveillance.
In the last six months, India reported four cases of the BF.7 Omicron sub-variant, which is driving the current surge of infections in China.
Sources said there are currently 10 different variants of Covid-19 in the country, with the latest being BF.7.
Earlier in the day, Health Minister Mandaviya said that the government has started random RT-PCR sampling among the passengers arriving at International airports in the country amid the recent surge of Coronavirus infection in various countries including China, Japan, South Korea, France, and United States.
"We have also started the random RT-PCR sampling among passengers arriving at International airports in the country. We are committed to tackling the pandemic and are taking appropriate steps," Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in his statement in the Lok Sabha while advising the States to make sure that people wear masks, use sanitizers and maintain social distancing even during the festive and the New Year season.
He also encouraged the states to increase awareness of precautionary doses against Coronavirus.
"We are keeping an eye on the global Covid situation and are taking steps accordingly. The States are advised to increase genome-sequencing to timely identify the new variant of Covid-19," Mandaviya added. (ANI)