Amid rise in cases in US & China, India Govt to review Covid situation on Wednesday

way2barak, Dec.20: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will review the COVID-19 situation on Wednesday amid a rise in cases in Japan, South Korea, Brazil, China and the US, as per reports. The minister will review the COVID-19 situation at 11 am on Wednesday considering the international scenario

The Union Health Ministry has urged all states and Union territories to ramp up the whole genome sequencing of positive samples to keep track of new variants. In a letter to states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said such an exercise will enable timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country and will facilitate undertaking of requisite public health measures.

The Health Minister stressed that India with its focus on the five-fold strategy of test-track-treat-vaccination and adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour has been able to restrict the transmission of the coronavirus and is having around 1,200 cases on a weekly basis. He urged upon the states to ensure that as far as possible, samples of all positive cases, on a daily basis, are sent to the designated INSACOG Genome Laboratories that are mapped to states and UTs.