Un i o n H e a l t h Minister Mansukh M a n d a v i y a o n Wednesday chaired a review meeting of top health officials and experts on the Covid situation in the country and directed officials to be alert and strengthen surveillance amid a surge in coronavirus cases globally. “Covid is not over yet. I have directed all concerned to be alert and strengthen surveillance. We are prepared to manage any situation,” tweeted Union Health Minister after the meeting. Reports of the sudden rise in Covid cases in China, Japan, the US and Brazil among other countries have surfaced. Dr V.K. Paul, MemberHealth, NITI Aayog at the end of the Wednesday’s meeting said: “Only 27-28 per cent of people have taken precaution dose. We appeal to others, especially senior citizens, to take precaution dose. Precaution dose is mandated and guided to everyone.” He also urged people to use mask in crowded spaces, indoors or outdoors. “This is all the more important for people with comorbidities or are of higher age,” Paul said.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Wednesday in a letter to States and Union Territories had said that in view of the sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, USA, Korea, Brazil and China, it is essential to gear up whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track variants through the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network. India has reported 129 fresh infections over the last 24 hours and the number of active cases currently stands at 3,408. One death was recorded over the last 24 hours — taking the total to 5,30,677. According to Hong Kong Post, people in China are reporting countless cases of Covid-19 around them, despite the official count being around 2,000 a day. Expressing concern over the spurt in Covid-19 cases in China, former Indian diplomat KP Fabian on Tuesday said, “Over 60 per cent of China and 10 per cent of the world population is likely to be infected with Covid and millions may die.” Speaking on China expecting a massive surge in coronavirus cases, he said, “There are some reports. What will you say on China? Well, when you speak of 10% of the world population, which is about 8 billion, which means 10% is 800 million, which is a very big number. Now of course I don’t have the expertise to say whether it is right or wrong, I don’t want to say that. But it seems that with China’s method of fighting Covid, something has gone wrong with it. Seriously, their vaccine is not that good and they refuse to get the better vaccine or to improve their own vaccine, though something has been done, but not enough.”