The sudden rise in the Covid-19 cases around the world has called for a warning in India. New cases dominated by the Delta, Omicron, and the new BA.2 variant in several countries like China, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, and Europe have recently seen a high surge in its amount.
To discuss and monitor India’s strategy and degree of alertness in the wake of another covid-19 outbreak in numerous Asian and European countries, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya convened a high-level meeting on Wednesday.
India has only recently begun to recover from the pandemic’s third wave, which was triggered by Omicron. After a two-year hiatus, the Centre announced plans to resume foreign flights from March 27 onwards. But this decision was also reviewed again in the meeting, with the international situation in view.
Top health officials including the health secretary, pharma secretary, and the principal scientific advisor to the government, attended the meeting.
Mandaviya gave three essential recommendations for Covid management during the meeting, including increased surveillance, rigorous genome sequencing, and sustaining a high standard of vigilance in the country.
India reported 2,876 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of active cases to 32,811. Even though the number of cases is still low, the government has warned against complacency.
The covid surge in Asia
Coronavirus infections have recently increased in countries such as China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea. While the Covid epidemic in China looks to be declining this week, the number of daily new Covid-19 infections in South Korea has reached a new high of 621,328.
BA.2 variant and its Emergence
- While Delta and Omicron dominated the Covid-19 Asian wave, a new troubling strain – BA.2 – is setting the ground for a resurgence of pandemic dangers in Europe.
- The virus has spread quickly in Germany and Austria and is believed to be an even more communicable strain than the Omicron type.
- Most European health officials have brushed off the situation, with no desire to re-impose the restrictions that were just relaxed.
- German health minister Karl Lauterbach, on the other hand, is one of the few to raise the alarm saying that ‘the outbreak appears to be worsening and is causing “many deaths”.
The situation in the US
In March, about a third of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wastewater system which detects for Covid-19 sample location all over the US revealed rising Covid-19 trends, approximately twice as high as that in February.
While workers in many regions of the country have begun returning to work after mask regulations were relaxed, officials are once again on high alert due to the increased risk of transmission.
Published By – Vanshu Mehra
Edited By – Khushi Thakur
