At the time when the Union government has decided to forgo the Covid lockdown and containment measures after the spread of the pandemic has come under control with a sharp decrease in fresh cases, the emergence of the new Covid variant - XE variant has come as a cause of concern and the government authorities are gearing up to tackle the spread of the variant. 

Like the rest of the states, the Tamil Nadu government has also strengthened the measures to keep the variant at the bay. The state's health department is getting ready to tackle the variant. While addressing the state assembly on Tuesday, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian has said that the state government is fully gearing up to address the XE variant or any other strain. He further said that the government is monitoring the situation and outlined the measures being taken up in tackling the menace. 

Subramanian had referred to his meeting with NK Arora, the Chairman of India's Covid-19 response, on April 10 and quoted him saying that as per the Union government, the one XE variant case each that was detected in Maharashtra and Gujarat doesn't fall under the XE type and that there is no need to panic but the government is fully cautious. Subramanian stated that the state government has started screening all international passengers. 

He further said that the Tamil Nadu government is monitoring the developments related to mutations through the Whole Genome Sequencing equipment that was launched by Chief Minister MK Stalin last September. On the front of the Covid 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. 

He also said that Chief Minister MK Stalin will on April 14 be inaugurating 2,096 new upgraded beds set up at a cost of Rs 365 crore for critical and intensive care units in state-run facilities. This facility will be opened in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai.  The health minister stated that the Chief Minister is prepared to tackle XE or any other variant. It must be noted that the XE mutation of the Omicron variant was found first in the UK and the Indian government has been pressing the people to adhere to the basic Covid protocols of wearing masks and observing physical distancing in public places.