Desk, 27-Nov; PM Narendra Modi on Saturday will chair a meeting with top government officials on the COVID-19 situation and vaccination. The meeting will take place at 10:30 am today.The meeting has come at a time when a new variant, B.1.1.529 (Omicron) of Covid-19 has sent a chill through much of the world.The meeting will be attended by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Principal Secretary to PM, PK Mishra, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, and NITI Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul today.Besides, India has also announced that scheduled international flights to and from India will resume from December 15 after 20 months of coronavirus-induced suspension.India has also put certain countries under the ‘at-risk’ category where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in India, including post-arrival testing for infection.The countries under the ‘at-risk ‘ category are the United Kingdom, and South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.According to the Centre’s decision on Friday, airlines will be allowed to operate 50% of their pre-COVID scheduled passenger flights between India and South Africa, Hong Kong, and Botswana from December 15.Meanwhile, various countries such as Britain, Germany, Singapore, Israel, France, and Italy have restricted air travel from southern Africa where a new coronavirus variant of serious health implications has been reported.India on Saturday reported 8,318 Covid-19 cases and 465 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, the active cases stand at 1,07,019. The active caseload now accounts for less than 1% of total cases, currently at 0.32%, the lowest since March 2020.So far 121.06 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered under Nationwide Vaccination Drive.(CNS)
