With China reporting a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya decided to chair a coronavirus review meeting on Wednesday. The meeting will convene at 11am, news agency PTI reported.
The health ministry has also directed all states and Union territories to increase the whole genome sequencing of positive samples to keep track of emerging variants. “ln view of the sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, the United States of America, Republic of Korea, Brazil and China, it is essential to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track the variants through…INSACOG network,” health ministry secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in the letter to all states and UTs.
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According to the Centre, around 35 lakh Covid cases continue to be reported every week globally, however, Dr NK Arora, chairman of the Covid-19 working group NTAGI, asserted that there is nothing to panic about as the country’s system is “vigilant”.
Exuding confidence in India’s preparedness to tackle the Covid situation, the expert said the country can take appropriate action in case of the emergence of a new sub-variant.
“It is an important thing that we keep a close vigil on the Chinese situation. But I would say that there is nothing to be panicked about. There is no need for getting too much worried. The system is very vigilant, we need to be very vigilant. As far as genomic surveillance is concerned, this is the most important part we are doing genomic surveillance of individuals with symptoms,” Arora was quoted saying by news agency ANI.
Arora also said the exact situation of Covid in China is still unclear, “China was following so-called Zero Covid policies and as we learn from media recently they have relaxed this policy and after that, we are hearing that there is widespread Covid infection in that community with associated severe disease and deaths also. But what is the exact situation we really do not know,” he said
(With inputs from agency)
