TN ready to tackle XE variant, says Health Minister Ma Subramanian

Tamil Nadu is geared up to tackle the new coronavirus variant XE or any other strain, state Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Tuesday, April 12, told the state Assembly. He also said that the state government is monitoring the situation and outlined the measures being taken up in this connection. XE is a mutation of the Omicron variant, which was first found in the UK.

Referring to his meeting with Chairman of India's COVID-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation NK Arora on April 10, Subramanian quoted him as saying that according to the Union government, the one case each detected in Maharashtra and Gujarat does not fall under the XE type. Arora had said there is no need to panic but the government is however cautious, he stated.

The Minister was replying to AIADMK's C Vijayabaskar, who moved a motion to ask what steps were being taken in connection with the XE variant, including the vaccination aspect. The minister said that the government has started screening all international passengers. In a first for state governments, the Whole Genome Sequencing equipment was launched in September last year at a state-run facility by Chief Minister MK Stalin, he said. "Through this, the Tamil Nadu government is monitoring the developments related to mutations," Subramanian said.

On April 14, the Chief Minister will inaugurate 2,096 new upgraded beds set up at a cost of Rs 365 crore for critical and intensive care units in state-run facilities, he said and added that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister is prepared to tackle XE or any other variant.

With regards to vaccination, Subramanian said that 10.55 crore vaccine doses have been administered till Tuesday morning, out of which 92.37% were the first dose and 77.19% were the second dose. (PTI)