New Delhi, Jan 10 (UNI): The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) will assess the causes of disease severity among Covid-19 patients amid the exponential surge of daily cases, officials said.
It was learnt by UNI that the central agency has formed multiple teams for the task, which will be led by epidemiologists and make surprise visits to the hospitals in Delhi treating Covid-19 patients.
“The multiple teams, led by NCDC epidemiologists, will make surprise visits to Covid hospitals in Delhi to assess the cause of moderate and severe cases. This is to check whether the hospitalisation is due to Omicron or any other factor,” a senior NCDC official said.
A communication regarding the visit has also been sent to the Delhi government for further dissemination, said the officials.
The nursing home cell of Delhi government has communicated with the hospitals about the visit, they added.
Sources at the department told UNI that RN Das, chief of the nursing home cell, has informed the hospitals about the visit by NCDC officials and also directed full cooperation with the teams.
Earlier, the hospitals were directed to send positive samples of all hospitalised patients for genome sequencing at Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) labs or outsource other labs for the task, where the facility is available.
According to sources at INSACOG, genome sequencing from metro cities showed the dominance of Omicron variant in the community.
Over 90% of samples have reported prevalence of the new Variant of Concern (VoC).
India has, so far, confirmed 4,033 cases of highly-transmissible Omicron variant in 27 states and Union Territories.
