Centre asks states, UTs to increase genome sequencing amid China's Covid spurt; Health min’s review meet today

New Delhi, Dec 20: The central government on Tuesday urged all states and Union territories to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive samples to keep track of emerging variants amid a sudden spurt in COVID-19 cases in Japan, South Korea, Brazil, China and the US. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will hold a meeting to review Covid situation in the country with ministry officials on Wednesday, as reported by PTI.

The minister will review the COVID-19 situation at 11:30 am on Wednesday ''considering the international scenario'', they said.

The secretaries of health, Ayush, department of pharmaceuticals and department of biotechnology, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Rajiv Bahl, Member (Health) of NITI Aayog V K Paul and National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) Chairman N L Arora and other senior officials will attend the meeting.

Meanwhile, in a letter to states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said such an exercise will enable timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country and will facilitate undertaking of requisite public health measures, as reported by news agency PTI.

He highlighted that India with its focus on the five-fold strategy of test-track-treat-vaccination and adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour has been able to restrict the transmission of the coronavirus and is having around 1,200 cases on a weekly basis. Public health challenge of COVID-19 still persists around the world with around 35 lakh cases reported weekly, Bhushan said.

In his letter, he also referred to the operational guidelines for revised surveillance strategy in context of COVID- 19 issued by the ministry in June this year. It 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. "Therefore, monitoring the trends of existing variants is of crucial importance," he said.

"In view of the sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, 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 Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network," he said.

"In this context, all states are requested to ensure that as far as possible samples of all positive cases, on a daily basis, are sent to the designated INSACOG Genome Laboratories that are mapped to states and UTs," he added.

On Tuesday, India recorded just 112 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases declined to 3,490, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The Covid-19 tally stood at 4.46 crore (4,46,76,199). The death toll stands at 5,30,677 with three fatalities, which includes two deaths reconciled by Kerala and one from Maharashtra in the last 24 hours.

No need to panic, says Covid panel chief

Earlier in the day, Dr NK Arora, the head of Covid-19 Task Group in National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NTAGI), said that there was a need to keep a close vigil on the Covid-19 situation in China, which is witnessing a wave of infections, even though there was no need to panic in India. Arora told ANI that the Covid situation was under control in the country as India was "extensively immunized with effective vaccines".

Another reason Arora said that might be behind the low case burden in India was the fact that not many sub-variants of Omicron was circulating in the country.

"INSACOG data shows that almost all sub-variants of Omicron are found everywhere in the world. There are not many sub-variants which aren't circulating here. Important to keep close vigil on Chinese situation but no need to panic as situation is in control," he further said.

Covid has crippled China

Chinese cities are witnessing an explosion of Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations, with concerns growing that the government may be hiding the true death toll of the virus.

Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and health economist, earlier tweeted that 'over 60 per cent of China's and 10 per cent of the Earth's population will likely be infected over the next 90 days' and that the deaths will 'likely (be) in the millions'.

Feigl-Ding claimed that the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) goal is "let whoever needs to be infected, infected, let whoever needs to die, die. Early infections, early deaths, early peak, early resumption of production."