With the emergence of the new Omicron variant, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya stressed the need for community awareness for continued implementation of the COVID Appropriate Behaviour (CAB), especially in view of the upcoming festival season.
Earlier today, a meeting was conducted between Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and senior health officials regarding the emergence of Omicron’s new sub-variants.
The health officials reviewed the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country, the status of the vaccination drive, and the global scenario of new variants of COVID-19.
Bureaucrat Lav Agarwal made a detailed presentation on the global scenario of a surge in COVID cases, primarily in Europe, and an analysis of various Omicron Variants in the world.
The presentation included a detailed analysis of the COVID-19 situation in the country with the trend of Covid-19 cases; daily cases being reported, active cases, case positivity, and testing status along with state-wise weekly tests per million including a share of RT-PCR in tests conducted.
Manohar Agnani, AS (MoHFW) gave a presentation on the current status of vaccination in the country, availability of vaccines, and state-wise analysis of vaccine administration and highlighted the slow pace of administration of precautionary doses in the country.
Union Health Minister stressed the need to undertake adequate testing (with a higher proportion of RTPCR) & effective Covid-19 surveillance to assess and control the spread of infection in a timely manner.
Mandaviya directed the officials to continue to focus on surveillance across the country, particularly through sentinel sites including monitoring of SARI & ILI cases and on Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) to scan for any possible mutation in the wake of the identification of Omicron variants in other countries. He also urged officials to closely monitor hospitalizations due to COVID-19.
He exhorted to increase the pace of vaccination including precautionary doses to the eligible beneficiaries.
The meeting was attended by Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Govt, S Aparna, Secretary (Pharmaceuticals), Rajiv Bahl, DG ICMR; along with other senior officials of the Health Ministry. (ANI)
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