Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday asserted that Bihar was ready to tackle the omicron threat head on though no cases of the Covid-19 variant had been found in the state so far.

He also expressed concern over the inordinate delay by the Centre in determining whether the samples sent for genome sequencing to the National Centre for Disease Control in Delhi were found positive for the omicron variant.

“It (omicron) is spreading in the country, but no case of it has been detected in Bihar till now. They say reports are provided in five to seven days, but it’s around 25 days since we sent the samples. I had to ask my officials to check about it. They did so. So far, there are no such omicron cases here, but the variant is spreading in other states and countries. We are fully alert and prepared to tackle it,” Nitish said.

Nitish said the Bihar government had administered 9 crore vaccine doses to the people in the state. “We will achieve 100 per cent vaccination very soon,” he said.

The chief minister was talking to reporters on the sidelines of his janta durbar. Asked about the “social reform tour” across the state he would begin from December 22, he said the campaign was against the consumption of intoxicants, dowry and child marriage.

“We have arranged for livelihood activities for people who were previously engaged in liquor-related work. They are happy now. We are also working to bring the marginalised sections of the society to the mainstream. We are doing all the work related to development and disaster mitigation. But social reforms are also necessary. I will visit 12 places, meet the women there and take stock of welfare schemes from the officials,” Nitish said.

The chief minister said the social reform campaign would continue even after the end of his tour.

Reacting to former chief minister and ally Jitan Ram Manjhi’s advice to the poor to drink indoors after 10pm, Nitish said: “This is impossible. Let me remind that everybody in the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council unanimously passed the proposal for prohibition. All our NDA members iterated the resolution by raising their hands. I can show you the photographs. If anyone says anything then it is surprising.”

However, the chief minister asserted that despite doing good work, 10 per cent people will never agree with you.

Bihar went dry in April 2016 though the flow and consumption of liquor never stopped. It went underground instead. Nitish has sharpened the drive to enforce prohibition after back-to-back hooch tragedies in the state in which around 105 persons lost their lives this year.