Amidst the rise in COVID-19 cases globally, the Health Ministry announced that international passengers flying into India will be randomly tested at airports to see if they are positive for the virus. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday, December 21, reviewed the situation in the country and asked people to follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour, including wearing masks in crowded places and getting vaccinated.
During the meeting, attended by experts and senior officials, the Minister was briefed on the global COVID-19 situation and the domestic scenario, including the preparedness of all stakeholders. Noting that only 27-28% of India's eligible population have taken the precautionary dose of COVID-19, NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr VK Paul, after the meeting, said people should take the jab and also wear masks in crowded places. The government will again hold a meeting next week to monitor the situation.
The Minister directed strengthening of the surveillance system for whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track the variants through the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network to ensure the timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country. This would facilitate the undertaking of appropriate public health measures. States and union territories have been requested to send samples of all COVID-19 positive cases to INSACOG Genome Sequencing Laboratories (IGSLs) on a daily basis, for sequencing, to track new variants, if any, a health ministry statement said.
In a presentation, the Minister was briefed that India has been witnessing a steady decline in cases with average daily cases falling to 158 in the week ending December 19, 2022. However, a consistent rise in global daily average cases has been reported for the last six weeks, with 5.9 lakh daily average cases reported in the week ending December 19, 2022. A new and highly transmissible BF.7 strain of the Omicron variant is behind a wider surge of COVID infections in China, the statement said.
The Union Health Ministry has already issued ‘Operational Guidelines for Revised Surveillance Strategy in context of COVID-19’ in June 2022 which calls for early detection, isolation, testing, and timely management of suspected and confirmed cases to detect and contain outbreaks of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. Mandaviya directed officials to ensure effective implementation of the same.
During the meeting, it was highlighted that Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu are the top five states contributing to new COVID-19 cases even though there is a consistent decline in the overall cases in the country. These five states accounted for 84% of the daily new cases reported on December 20, 2022.
(With PTI inputs)