In response to the rising cases of COVID in various countries, especially in China, the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday asked people to follow all the necessary rules and Covid-appropriate behaviour. He also said that officials should strengthen surveillance to detect cases with new variants. The government has also announced that it will start random testing on international passengers upon their arrival at airports. This practice stopped in November after the travel advisories were revised.
According to The Indian Express, two cases of the Omicron variant BF.7, which is believed to be the cause of the surge in COVID in China currently, have been reported in India. The first instance was detected in September in Odisha and the second in November in Gujarat. It is believed that the new variant might have been introduced to India way back but didn’t spread much as it was placed on the watch list for other nations. However, officials in Gujarat confirmed that two cases of the sub-type were reported in September and November. Both of them have since recovered. In Gujarat’s Vadodara, a 61-year-old woman, who came from the US on September 11, tested positive for the sub-type. She had reportedly taken three doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
According to data released by the INSACOG consortium, the BA.5 sub-type contributed about 2.5% of the total samples analyzed in November. To keep an eye on emerging variants, Rajesh Bhushan, the Union Health Secretary, asked all states and Union Territories to regularly test positive samples.
Following a review meeting on Wednesday, Mandaviya said that the COVID situation was not over yet. He directed all the officials to be on the lookout for new cases and strengthen surveillance. The government will hold a meeting again next week to monitor the situation.
Although the government has increased surveillance, the current procedure regarding international arrivals is still the same as it was in November. In addition to that, the new protocol also states that inbound passengers should be fully vaccinated.
The meeting was attended by various officials and experts. They were briefed on the global and domestic situation.
Data presented during the meeting indicated that the daily number of COVID cases in India had remained low, the Indian Express reported. There had been around 158 positive cases every day during the week ending December 19. Globally, the number of cases has increased significantly during the last six weeks.
Around 90% of the people who were eligible for the first two doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been vaccinated. However, the coverage of the third dose, which was started earlier this year, has not been as high. According to data collected by the Ministry, only 27% of the eligible individuals received the third dose by September-end.
The meeting was informed that the five states that reported the most number of new cases on December 20 were Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. These five contributed to almost 80% of the new cases that were reported that day.
