With China witnessing a steep increase in the number of Covid cases due to coronavirus variant B.F7, the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday said the next 40 days would be crucial for India, as it might see a surge in infections in January.
However, government sources added that even if a Covid wave does occur, deaths and hospitalisation are likely to be low, as most people in India are vaccinated and also have natural imunity through previous coronavirus infections.
Press Trust of India (PTI) reported that the 40-day figure was arrived at after analysing previous trends.
“Previously, it has been noticed that a new wave of COVID-19 hits India around 30-35 days after it hits East Asia…. This has been a trend,” an official was quoted as saying by PTI.
Filling up of ‘air suvidha’ forms and 72-hour-old RT-PCR tests could be made mandatory from next week for passengers coming from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.
The guidelines come after at least 39 international travellers arriving in the country were found positive for COVID-19 out of the 6,000 who were randomly tested between December 24 and December 26.
Earlier on Tuesday, hospitals across India carried out mock drills to check the operational readiness of Covid-dedicated facilities with a specific focus on equipment, procedure and manpower. The drills took place after the central government issued an advisory a day before and asked states to step up their Covid-related actions.
The precautionary steps are being taken in the wake of China’s Covid surge that might have infected as many as 248 million people, or nearly 18% of its population, in the first 20 days of December, according to an estimate of the National Health Commission of the country, Bloomberg reported on December 24.
The health agency observed that with the swift removal of Covid Zero restrictions across China, the contagious omicron variants quickly spread among those with low levels of natural immunity. More than half the residents of Sichuan province, in China’s southwest, and the capital Beijing have been infected, the agency estimated.
On December 23, the Union Health Ministry said Covid positivity in India was declining week-by-week. According to a statement released, the ministry said the average daily cases between October 7-13 were 2,408 (1.05%), which later reduced to 153 (0.14%) between December 16-22.
Serum Institute offers 2 crore Covishield doses to Centre
With Covid cases going up in some countries, the Serum Institute of India (SII) has offered two crore doses of the vaccine Covishield to the Centre free of cost, PTI reported on Wednesday.
