Covid resurgence: Centre asks states to ramp up testing, carry out genome sequencing

New Delhi: India has reported 223 coronavirus cases (0.075 % of new global cases) in the past one week.

Though the situation is said to be stable, the states have been advised to ramp up testing, and whole genome sequencing, and keep a close watch on the global variants of Coronavirus.

Given the recent reports of the detection of certain newer variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus reported globally, Dr PK Mishra, principal secretary to Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting to review the global and national COVID-19 situation, newer variants in circulation and their public health impact.

An overview of the global COVID-19 situation was given by Sudhansh Pant, Secretary (Health) including certain newer variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus like BA.2.86 (Pirola) and EG.5 (Eris), which have been reported globally. He underlined that as per the World Health Organization (WHO), while EG.5 (Eris) has been reported from over 50 countries, and the variant BA.2.86 (Pirola) is in four countries.

It was highlighted that while globally a total of 2,96,219 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the past seven days, India which contributes to nearly 17% of the global population, has reported only 223 cases (0.075% of global new cases) in the past week.

He added that the daily average of new COVID-19 cases continues to be below 50 from the entire country and the country has managed to maintain a weekly test positivity rate of less than 0.2%. An overview of the Genome Sequencing of different variants circulating in India was also provided.

After detailed deliberations, Dr. Mishra highlighted that while the COVID-19 situation in the country remains stable and public health systems in the country remain geared up, there is a need for the states to monitor trends of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) cases, send sufficient samples for testing of Covid-19 while ramping up Whole Genome Sequencing and maintaining a close watch on the new global variants.

The meeting was attended by Dr Vinod Paul, member of NITI Aayog, Rajiv Gauba, cabinet secretary, Amit Khare, advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Sudhansh Pant, secretary of health and family welfare, Rajiv Bahl, secretary of the Department of Health Research (DHR) and DG Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Rajesh S Gokhale, secretary, Biotechnology and Punya Salila Srivastava, additional secretary to the prime minister.