union health ministry Archives - Lokmarg

India Records 774 New Covid Cases

By LokMarg 6th January 2024

India recorded 774 fresh cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours according to the Union Health Ministry.

As per official data, two deaths have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours – one each in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.

With this, the total count of coronavirus cases in India since its outbreak in January 2020 has reached 4,50,17,431 with an increase of 774 cases in the last 24 hours. The death toll due to COVID-19 cases in India has risen to, 5,33,387 reflecting an increase of two deaths in the last 24 hours.

The total number of COVID-19 cases that have recovered in India are 4,44,79,804, an increase of 919 since yesterday morning.

34,660 tests were done on 5 January 2024, as per the official report by the Indian Council of Medical Research.

A total of 220,67,81,345 vaccinations have been completed in India uptill now since the outbreak of the virus.

As per the official data by the Ministry of Health, the maximum number of cases have been reported from Southern India among which 1169 cases have been reported in Karnataka, 1160 in Kerala, 188 in Tamil Nadu and 931 in Maharashtra.

Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj earlier said that there is such a pattern that after the increase in Corona cases in South India, the cases also increased in North India.

He urged citizens not to panic but emphasized the importance of taking precautions.

“All the positive cases coming in RTPCR test, we are sending those samples for genome sequencing. Currently, there is not a single positive case of the new variant in Delhi,” stated Minister Bhardwaj, providing insight into the rigorous testing and monitoring procedures in place. (ANI)

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59 Cases Of H3N2 Influenza Cases Reported In Odisha

By LokMarg 12th March 2023

A total 59 H3N2 Influenza cases has been confirmed out of 225 samples collected in the month of January and February this year in the State. Confirming this Director Dr Sanghamitra Pati, Regional Medical Research Center (RMRC) Bhubaneswar, said that “Symptoms are similar to the seasonal flu viruses including fever and cough etc.”

Amid sharp surge in H3N2 virus cases across the state, Health Secretary of Odisha on Sunday directed all district administrations to be vigilant and step up influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) surveillance at Health facility level and community level, Department of Health informed.

State Health Department stated in a press statement that, “H1N1 and H3N2 are subtypes of Influenza A virus . It’s common flu virus quite common in children and elderly from December to March. Most of the illnesses are mild and self limiting. Handwashing, personal hygiene and avoiding crowded places are the key measures to be followed as done earlier.”

“Our 30 DPHLs are continuously monitoring the trend of ILI and SARI cases by testing samples regularly in our 23 RTPCR labs and DPHLs. Our 30 DPHLs are doing H1N1 testing on regular basis. Each of them have requisite infrastructure and lab logistics to conduct the tests if a surge is seen in near future,” the Health Department further said.

“Our State is continuously testing the samples of ILI and SARI cases for detection of Covid cases, District IDSP units are in readiness and constantly monitoring the situation. Labs are kept in readiness to handle the surge of cases occurs if any,” he Statement from Health Department added.

According to the Union Health Ministry Karnataka and Haryana have confirmed one death each from H3N2 influenza so far.

H3N2 has been the dominant subtype followed by H1N1. Both these subtypes belong to Influenza ‘A’ type.

However, the Union Ministry of Health on Friday said that the cases arising from seasonal influenza including H3N2 which has claimed one death each in Haryana and Karnataka are expected to decline from March end. (ANI)

Probe After US FDA Flags Contamination Risk From India-Made Eyedrops

By LokMarg 4th February 2023

After the US regulator Food and Drug Administration warned consumers “not to purchase or use EzriCare Artificial Tears due to potential contamination”, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) under the Union Health Ministry and the Tamil Nadu State Drug Controller have initiated a probe into the pharma firm producing this eyedrop, a source aware of the issue said on Friday.

“Teams from CDSCO and TN State Drug Controller, comprising three officials, are on their way to the manufacturing plant located near Chennai. It’s a contract manufacturing plant supplying through others to the US market. This specific drug is not sold in India,” said the source.
FDA has also restricted the imports of products manufactured by Global Pharma Private Healthcare Limited.

“The import alert prevents these products from entering the United States,” FDA said in a statement, adding “FDA is warning consumers and health care practitioners not to purchase and immediately stop using EzriCare Artificial Tears or Delsam Pharma’s Artificial Tears due to potential bacterial contamination. Using contaminated artificial tears increases the risk of eye infections that could result in blindness or death.”

The over-the-counter products, manufactured by Global Pharma Healthcare Private Limited, are intended to be ‘sterile’, the FDA noted.

Global Pharma has initiated a voluntary recall at the consumer level of all unexpired lots of EzriCare Artificial Tears and Delsam Pharma’s Artificial Tears, the source informed further.

FDA added that it recommended this recall due to the company’s current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) violations, including lack of appropriate microbial testing, formulation issues (the company manufactures and distributes ophthalmic drugs in multi-use bottles, without an adequate preservative), and lack of proper controls concerning tamper-evident packaging. (ANI)

Random Sampling For Covid-19 Of Intl Passengers Started

By LokMarg 21st December 2022

A sudden surge in COVID-19 cases in the United States, China, Brazil and South Korea has prompted the Union Health Ministry to review the pandemic situation in India and as per the precautionary measure the government has restarted random sampling of international passengers at airports across the country for Covid from today.
Sources told ANI, “Random sampling of international passengers for Covid19 has started at airports in the country from today.”

“There are currently 10 different variants of Covid-19 in the country, with the latest variant being BF.7. At present various variants of Omicron are spreading in the country and Delta variant can still be seen in the country,” said the sources.

Earlier in the day, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also conducted a high-level meeting to review the COVID-19 situation in India and the preparedness of the public health system for surveillance, containment and management of COVID-19 in view of the recent spike in cases of COVID-19 in some countries along with Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.

Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, senior officials and public health experts were present.

“The Union Health Minister was briefed on the global COVID-19 situation and the domestic scenario. Underlining the challenge posed by the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in some countries across the world such as China, Japan, South Korea, France and the United States, Union Health Minister 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,” reads the statement issued by the Health Ministry after the meeting.

Mandaviya also said that Covid-19 is not yet over and directed officials to be alert and strengthen surveillance amid a surge in coronavirus cases globally.

He urged people to follow COVID appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated against COVID.

“The surveillance system for whole genome sequencing of positive case samples will track the variants through Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network to ensure timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country. This would facilitate the undertaking of appropriate public health measures. States/UTs have been requested to send samples of all COVID-19 positive cases to INSACOG Genome Sequencing Laboratories (IGSLs) on a daily basis, for sequencing, to track new variants, if any,” he said.

“In a presentation, the Union Health Minister was briefed that India has been witnessing a steady decline in cases with average daily cases falling to 158 in the week ending December 19, 2022. However, a consistent rise in global daily average cases has been reported since the last six weeks, with 5.9 lakh daily average cases reported in the week ending December 19, 2022. A new and highly transmissible BF.7 strain of the Omicron variant has been found to be behind a wider surge of COVID infections in China,” the ministry said in a statement.

Present in the meeting, Dr VK Paul, Member, Niti Aayog said, “Only 27-28 per cent of people have taken precaution dose. We appeal to others, especially senior citizens, to take the precautionary dose. Precaution dose is mandated and guided to everyone.”

“Use a mask if you are in a crowded space, indoors or outdoors. This is all the more important for people with comorbidities or those of higher age,” Dr Paul added.

In the meeting, other Senior Officials present were Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Union Health Ministry, Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor, Dr RS Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, AYUSH, Dr Rajiv Bahl, Secretary, Department of Health Research, Dr Atul Goel, DGHS, Sh. Lav Agarwal, Additional Secretary, MoHFW and Dr N K Arora, Chairman of the COVID Working Group, National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI). (ANI)