Health Minister To Discuss Covid Preparedness With States Today

Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya will hold a virtual meeting with State health ministers on the Covid-19 situation and preparedness at 3 pm today, according to sources.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting to review the status and preparedness of public health response to COVID-19 and emphasised the need for strengthened surveillance with a focus on genome sequencing and increased testing.

This high-level review meeting comes against the backdrop of a spike in COVID-19 cases in some countries, according to the Prime Minister's Office.

PM Modi assessed the COVID-19 situation in the country, the preparedness of health infrastructure and logistics and the status of the vaccination campaign in the country. He also assessed the emergence of new Covid-19 variants and their public health implications.

Over the last two days, Chief Ministers of many states around the country have conducted high-level meetings with Senior Officials regarding the preparedness for Covid19 in their states.

On Thursday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal assured the common people regarding the government's preparedness and said that there is no need to panic as the national capital does not have a single case of the COVID-19 Omicron sub-variant BF.7.

There has been an alarming surge in Covid cases in China, Japan, South Korea, France, and the United States. The spike is being blamed on the new Omicron sub-variant BF.7, which has also been detected in four Indian states, according to health ministry data.

Addressing the media after the COVID-19 review meeting, Delhi Chief Minister said, "COVID-19 cases are rising in China and several other countries. It has BF.7 variant. We don't have a single case of that variant in Delhi. So there's no need to worry."

He further stated that the health department is conducting genome sequencing of all the positive cases which are being reported in the city.

However, Kejriwal said that XBB variant cases are being reported in Delhi.

"BR.7 variant was not detected even in sewage samples collected and tested from seven different places in Delhi. 92 per cent of the cases being reported in Delhi are related to the XBB variant or its sub-variants," he said.

The Chief Minister said that the Delhi Government is fully prepared for the new wave of COVID-19.

Kejriwal requested people to take the precautionary doses of the vaccine as only 24 per cent of the people of Delhi have taken them till date.

"First and second doses have been provided to almost 100 per cent of beneficiaries. Only 24 per cent of people have taken the precautionary dose. We request the people to take the precautionary dose. During the meeting we discussed another door-to-door campaign to give precautionary doses to the people," said Kejriwal.

On being asked about the face mask, he said, "We are waiting on the guidelines of the Central government. We will implement as and when they give orders," said the Delhi CM.

In the last six months, India reported four cases of the BF.7 Omicron sub-variant, which is driving the current surge of infections in China.

As per sources, there are currently 10 different variants of Covid-19 in the country, with the latest being BF.7.