Photo for representation. PTI
New Delhi, 20 December
Amid a new surge in covid-19 cases in Japan, South Korea, Brazil, China and the United States, EU Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will review the pandemic on Wednesday, official sources said.
The minister will provide an update on the Covid-19 scenario on Wednesday at 11:30 a. m. given the external scenario, they said.
Earlier Tuesday, the Department of Health suggested all states and union territories push for whole genome sequencing of samples to track new variants.
In a letter to states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said such training will enable early detection of new variants, if any, circulating in the country and facilitate the implementation of required public fitness measures.
He noted that India, focusing on the five-pronged approach of testing-tracking-treatment-vaccination and compliance with Covid appropriate behavior, has been to limit the transmission of the coronavirus and has around 1200 cases per week.
The challenge of public fitness of COVID-19 still persists around the world with around 35 lakh of cases reported each week, Bhushan said.
“Given the sudden accumulation of cases observed in Japan, the United States of America, the Republic of Korea, Brazil and China, it is imperative to boost whole-genome sequencing of positive case samples to track Indian SARS variants. CoV. -2 genomics consortium (INSACOG) network,” he said.
“In this context, all states are asked to ensure that, to the extent possible, samples from all positive cases, on a basis, are sent to designated INSACOG genome laboratories that are assigned to states and UTs,” he added. PTI
Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in Japan, South Korea, Brazil, China and the United States, the central government on Tuesday suggested all states and union territories prepare whole-genome sequencing of positive samples to track emerging variants.
In a letter to states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said such training will enable early detection of new variants, if any, circulating in the country and facilitate the implementation of required public fitness measures.
He noted that India, focusing on the five-pronged approach of testing-tracking-treatment-vaccination and compliance with Covid appropriate behavior, has been to limit the transmission of the coronavirus and has around 1200 cases per week.
The challenge of the public fitness of Covid-19 still persists around the world with around 35 lakh of cases reported each week, Bhushan said.
In his letter, he also referred to the operational rules for the revised surveillance strategy in the context of Covid-19 issued by the ministry in June this year. It calls for early stumbling onion, isolation and immediate control of suspected cases and shown to stumble and involve outbreaks of new variants of SARS-CoV-2.
“Therefore, trends of existing variants are vitally important,” he said.
“Given the sudden accumulation of cases observed in Japan, the United States of America, the Republic of Korea, Brazil and China, it is imperative to boost whole-genome sequencing of positive case samples to track Indian SARS variants. CoV. -2 genomics consortium (INSACOG) network,” he said.
“In this context, all states are asked to ensure that, as far as possible, samples from all positive cases, on a basis, are sent to designated INSACOG genome laboratories that are assigned to states and UTs,” he added.
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