'Infections rise in winter': Ex-AIIMS chief warns as Covid explodes in China

Coivd resurgence in China, the US, Japan, and Brazil have triggered fears among nations including India, which has asked all the states to ramp up genome sequencing to track any possible new variants.

New Delhi, Dec 21: Amid a sharp rise in Covid cases globally, former AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria on Wednesday advised high-risk groups to take booster doses as viral infections rise in winter.

Speaking to ANI, Guleria said India's situation is much better than that of China because our vaccination strategy has been very successful, most of the people in the high-risk group have taken booster doses and natural infection has happened.

"India's situation is much better as compared to that of China because our vaccination strategy has been very successful, most of the people in the high-risk group have taken booster doses and natural infection has happened," said Dr Randeep Guleria.

"We can see that the cases are not rising anywhere. But we need to be vigilant. Proper surveillance is needed so that if cases rise anywhere we pick it up at the earliest and conduct testing so that it can be seen that no new variant is coming up and not spreading further," he said.

"Viral infections rise in winter. Better care needs to be taken. Important for people, especially high-risk groups, to protect themselves and take booster doses," he advised.

Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya chaired a high-level meeting to review the COVID-19 situation in India and the preparedness of the public health system for surveillance, containment, and management of COVID-19 in view of the recent spike in cases of COVID-19 in some countries.

Underlining the challenge posed by the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in some countries across the world such as China, Japan, South Korea, France and United States, Union Health Minister noted the importance of being prepared and remaining alert against new and emerging strains of COVID-19, especially in view of the upcoming festive season.

Underlying and reiterating that COVID is not over yet, he directed the officials to be fully geared up and strengthen surveillance. He urged people to follow COVID Appropriate Behaviour and get vaccinated against COVID.