Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya reviewed the situation in India in light of the mounting cases in China and other nations on Wednesday and asked people to practise Covid-appropriate behaviour, such as wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, routinely washing hands, and being immunised. He also gave the order to “completely gear up and increase surveillance” by the authorities.
According to official sources, random screening of arriving overseas travellers will resume. After a change in travel recommendations at the end of November, it had halted. Before that, airports conducted random drug tests on 2% of all international travellers.
Two cases of the Omicron sub-variant BF.7, which is thought to be responsible for the rise in China, have reportedly been found in India thus far, with the first case occurring in Odisha in September and the second in Gujarat in November, according to sources in Delhi. “The instances weren’t widely dispersed when they were first discovered. According to a senior official, it is probably similar to previous varieties that were on the watch list for other nations but only slightly increased the number of cases in India.
Officials in Gujarat reported two instances of the sub-variant, both of which have subsequently recovered. The cases were reported in Vadodara in September and Ahmedabad in November.
A 61-year-old woman who had arrived from the US on September 11 of this year, according to a news statement from the Vadodara Municipal Corporation, had tested positive for the sub-variant. The statement read, “The patient was in home isolation and had received three doses of the Pfizer vaccine.”
A 57-year-old male who had arrived from Australia on November 11 had tested positive for the sub-variant, according to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. He had no symptoms. On November 21, he travelled back to Australia. At that time, every member of his family was asymptomatic as well, according to the medical officer, Dr. Bhavin Solanki.)
The sub-variant was discovered in Odisha in the sample of a woman from the Khordha district who had been examined before to leaving for the US.
In November, 2.5% of all samples sequenced in India were of the parent sub-variant BA.5, according to information from the nation’s Sars-CoV-2 genome sequencing collaboration, INSACOG. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan requested in a letter to all the states and UTs on Tuesday that they sequence all positive samples on a daily basis in order to monitor any newly developing variations.
In view of the rising cases of #Covid19 in some countries, reviewed the situation with experts and officials today.
COVID is not over yet. I have directed all concerned to be alert and strengthen surveillance.
We are prepared to manage any situation. pic.twitter.com/DNEj2PmE2W
— Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) December 21, 2022
“Covid is still going on. I’ve told everyone involved to be vigilant and step up security. After the review meeting on Wednesday, Mandaviya wrote, “We are ready to handle any situation.
Experts and senior authorities were present at the meeting, where Mandaviya received a briefing on the domestic situation and the global Covid issue, as well as the level of preparation of all stakeholders.
The meeting’s findings revealed that India’s daily case count has remained low, with an average of 158 positive cases per day recorded during the week ending December 19. An average of 5.9 lakh cases per day were recorded globally over the past six weeks, with the week ending December 19 seeing an increase in this trend.
The Covid-19 vaccine’s first two doses have been administered to over 90% of eligible recipients, but coverage of the precautionary dosage, which started earlier this year, has remained low. At the completion of a 75-day campaign to give free booster injections to all adults, only 27% of eligible beneficiaries had gotten the third dose, according to ministry data.
Data from the government’s CoWIN database shows that after that, the numbers stayed low; from October 1 to December 20, only 96.3 lakh third doses were given.
Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu were named as the top five states contributing to the daily case load at the discussion. 84% of the daily new cases recorded on December 20 came from these five states.
The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) Chairman Dr. N K Arora, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Rajiv Bahl, and the secretaries of health, department of pharmaceuticals, department of biotechnology, and Ayush were all present at the meeting on Wednesday.
To keep an eye on the situation, the government will convene once again the following week.
Bhushan wrote in his letter on Tuesday that there has been a “sudden burst of cases” in China, Japan, the United States, Republic of Korea, and Brazil.
The policy for overseas arrivals has not changed as of yet, except from heightened surveillance. The requirement for a negative RT-PCR or a complete immunisation certificate has been eliminated by the protocol revision made last month. According to the recommended primary immunisation regimen against Covid-19 in their country, arriving passengers should “ideally be completely vaccinated.”
