Covid 19: Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya reviews preparedness with IMA amid grim global situation

In view of the rising Covid cases in several parts of the world, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a high level meeting with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on preparedness. He reviewed the public health system for surveillance, containment and management of Covid cases and instructed concerned authorities to take all necessary precautions.

However, it is good to know that India has been witnessing a steady decline in Covid cases with average daily cases falling to 158 in the week ending 19th Dec, 2022. However, a consistent rise in global daily average cases has been on since last 7 weeks, alarming the authorities. Just a couple of days earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did have a Covid preparedness review meeting with senior officials.

The Union Health Minister was briefed on the global Covid situation and the domestic scenario. Underlining the challenge posed by the increasing number of Covid cases in several countries across the world such as China, Japan, South Korea, France and United States, the minister noted the importance of being prepared and remaining alert against new and emerging strains of Covid.

Reiterating that Covid is not over yet, the minister directed the officials to be fully geared up and strengthen surveillance. He also urged people to follow Covid appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated to stay away from infection. He also 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, if any, circulating in the country.

In the wake of the rising Covid cases globally, Union Health Ministry had already issued operational guidelines for revised surveillance strategy in context of Covid in June 2022, which calls for early detection, isolation, testing and timely management of suspected and confirmed cases to detect and contain outbreaks of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. The minister also directed officials for ensuring effective implementation of the same.