Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Saturday briefed about the new Omicron variant of the Coronavirus, and asked officials to review the plans to ease international travel restrictions in light of the “emerging new evidence”.

Modi spoke about the need to be proactive in light of the new variant. He said that people need to be more cautious and take proper precautions like masking up and maintaining social distance. The Prime Minister highlighted the need for monitoring all international arrivals, their testing as per guidelines, with a specific focus on countries identified as ‘at risk’. He also directed officials to work closely with state governments to ensure that there is proper awareness at the state and district level. He directed that intensive containment and active surveillance should continue in clusters reporting higher cases and required technical support be provided to states which are reporting higher cases presently. He also asked that awareness be created about ventilation and air-borne behaviour of the virus. India also added several countries to the list from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival.