By India Blooms News Service Dec 22, 2022
New Delhi/UNI: Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases in China and some other countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday review the situation related to the pandemic and related aspects in the country at a high level meeting at 3:30 pm, officials said.
The Prime Minister is conducting the review at a time when BF.7 Omicron sub-variant is driving a surge of infections in China.
In the last six months, India reported four cases of the said variant.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday held a review meeting with experts and officials and asked them to stay alert and step up tracking of cases.
The Centre asked officials to be fully geared up to challenge and step up surveillance.
According to sources the discussions in the review meeting were held primarily on six key points. These include a strategy to block incoming cases at the international and domestic airports, laying down guidelines for passengers travelling from abroad, and consultation with experts on the new variant of Covid.
On Tuesday the Centre directed all the States and Union territories to send samples of all Covid- 19 positive cases to INSACOG labs to track new variants, if any.
In a letter written to states and UTs, the Centre said, 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.
The INSACOG is a grouping of 10 National Laboratories that was established by the Ministry of Health in Dec 2020 to carry out genomic sequencing and analysis of circulating Covid 19 viruses, and correlating epidemiological trends with genomic variants.
The Health Ministry also said that it is keeping a sharp watch on the situation with INSACOG.