Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya holds review meeting as COVID-19 cases rise, asks states to ramp up testing
2 min read . Updated: 07 Apr 2023, 05:45 PM IST
PremiumThe Indian government has asked states to identify emergency hotspots and ramp up-testing for COVID-19, after the country recorded its highest daily case count since September.
As COVID-19 cases in India rise, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya undertook a review meeting with state officials on Friday. India recorded 6,050 fresh cases in the past 24 hours, pushing the active caseload to 28,303 on Friday morning.
With daily cases nearly tripling from around 2,000 at the end of March, the states have now been asked to identify emergency hotspots, ramp up testing and ensure hospital infrastructure readiness. The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) also attended the meeting.
Mansukh Mandaviya asked the various health ministers to visit hospitals to review mock drills across all health facilities on April 10 and 11. The state officials have also been asked to review the health preparedness with district administrations and health officials on April 8 and 9.
"We need to remain alert but there is no need to worry. Currently, the sub-variant of Omicron, which is circulating in the country, hasn't led to an increase in the rate of hospitalisation," Mandaviya had said earlier while talking about the COVID-19 situation in the country.
According to the Health Ministry, the prevalence of XBB.1.16 - classified as a variant of interest by the World Health Organization - had increased from 21.6% in February to 35.8% in March.
"At the present time, there are only about 800 sequences of XBB.1.16 from 22 countries. Most of the sequences are from India and in India XBB.1.16 has replaced the other variants that are in circulation. So, this is one to watch. It has been in circulation for a few months," the World Health Organisation said in a recent statement.
Scientists meanwhile suggest that the deadly visrus is moving into an endemic state within India, behaving like other coronaviruses that cause common cold-like symptoms and can keep reinfecting.
(With inputs from agencies)