Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya today chaired a high-level meeting to review the COVID-19 situation in India and preparedness of public health system for surveillance, containment and management of COVID-19 in view of the recent spike in cases of COVID-19 in some States. Underlining the challenge posed by the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in some countries across the world such as China, Brazil, Germany and United States, Mr Mandaviya 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 requested States to monitor emerging evidences of COVID-19 cases, symptoms and case severity to plan appropriate public health response. The Union Minister stressed the need for collective efforts between the Centre and the States to deal with the emerging situation in the spirit of Whole of Government approach. He directed for strengthening the surveillance system for whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track the variants through Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium INSACOG network to ensure timely detection of newer variants, circulating in the country. Mr Mandaviya noted that this would facilitate undertaking of appropriate public health measures in a timely manner. States and UTs have been requested to ramp up testing and refer large number of samples of COVID-19 positive cases and pneumonia-like illness to INSACOG Genome Sequencing Laboratories on a daily basis, for sequencing, to track new variants, if any.
The Union Health Minister urged all the states to remain alert, increase surveillance and ensure adequate stock of medicines, oxygen cylinders and concentrators, ventilators and vaccines. He asked officials to undertake mock drills every three months at both the Central and State levels to assess the functionality of PSA plants, Oxygen concentrators and cylinders, ventilators and others and encouraged the sharing of best practices. Mr Mandaviya also urged States to create awareness on respiratory hygiene ensure dissemination of factually correct information and counter fake news to manage the infodemic and mitigate any panic. He urged States and UTs to share information on cases, tests, positivity and others in real-time on the COVID portal to enable timely monitoring and prompt public health measures. He assured the states of all support from the Centre.
Through a presentation, Health Secretary Sudhansh Pant briefed on the global COVID-19 situation and the domestic scenario. It was informed that while active COVID cases in India are significantly less compared to the global scenario, in the last two weeks there has been a steep rise in active cases from 115 on the 6th of this month to 614 on a date. It was also noted that 92.8 per cent of the cases are home-isolated, indicating mild illness. No increase in hospitalization rates has been witnessed due to COVID-19, the cases that are hospitalized are due to other medical conditions – COVID-19 is an incidental finding. A rise in daily positivity rate has been observed in a few states like Kerala, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Karnataka. On the new JN.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2, it was informed that the variant is currently under intense scientific scrutiny, but not a cause of immediate concern. No clustering of cases has been observed in India due to JN.1 and all the cases were found to be mild and all of them have recovered without any complications.
Member NITI Aayog Dr V K Paul reiterated the need for a whole-of-government approach to tackle the challenge posed by the surge in COVID cases and the emergence of a new variant. He informed that the scientific community in the country is closely investigating the new variant but stressed on the need for States to ramp up testing and strengthen their surveillance systems.
Secretary of Health Research Dr Rajiv Bahl informed that ICMR is currently working on genome sequencing of the new JN.1 variant. He urged states to monitor the COVID-19 scenario and increase RT-PCR tests but noted that there is no cause for panic.
Health Ministers of 17 States and UTs joined the meeting. They appreciated the support and guidance received from the Centre. They assured to increase testing and surveillance measures given the rising cases in some states.
