China Covid Surges, Vaccine Maker Adar Poonawalla says "Needn't Panic"

Raising concern on the rising COVID-19 cases in neighbouring China, Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla on Wednesday asked the people not to panic because of India's "excellent vaccination coverage and track record".

He, also at the same time, urged the people to adhere to the guidelines set by the Government of India and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

"The news of rising COVID cases coming out of China is concerning, we need not panic given our excellent vaccination coverage and track record. We must continue to trust and follow the guidelines set by the Government of India and @MoHFW_INDIA," tweeted Adar Poonawala.

Adar Poonawalla is the CEO of Serum Institute of India which manufactures Covishield COVID-19 vaccine.

According to Hong Kong Post, people in China are reporting countless cases of COVID-19 around them, despite the official count being around 2,000 a day.

Expressing concern over the spurt in Covid-19 cases in China, former Indian diplomat KP Fabian on Tuesday said, "over 60 per cent of China and 10 per cent of the world population is likely to be infected with Covid and millions may die."

Speaking on China expecting a massive surge in coronavirus cases, he said, "There are some reports. What will you say on China? Well, when you speak of 10 per cent of the world population, which is about 8 billion, which means 10 per cent is 800 million, which is a very big number. Now of course I don't have the expertise to say whether it is right or wrong, I don't want to say that. But it seems that with China's method of fighting Covid, something has gone wrong with it. Seriously, their vaccine is not that good and they refuse to get the better vaccine or to improve their own vaccine, though something has been done, but not enough."

In view of the recent rising cases of COVID-19 in some countries, the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday requested States and Union Territories to send samples of all COVID-19 positive cases to INSACOG labs to track new variants, if any.

The Health Ministry and INSACOG are keeping a sharp watch on the situation.

"In view of the sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, the United States of America, the Republic of Korea, Brazil and China, it is essential to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive cases samples to track the variants through SARS-CoV-2 Genome Consortium Network (INSACOG) network," Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in a letter addressed to the States and Union Territories on Tuesday."

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 Sequencing Laboratories (IGSLs) that are mapped to the States and UTs," said Union Health Secretary.

"Such an exercise will enable the timely detection of new variants. If any, circulating in the country and will facilitate the undertaking of requisite public health measures for the same," added Bhushan.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will hold a meeting with senior officials and experts on the COVID-19 situation in the country on Wednesday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)