Centre's Big Meet As Newer Variants Of Coronavirus Detected Globally
NDTV
It was highlighted that while globally a total of 2,96,219 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the past seven days, India has reported only 223 cases (0.075 per cent of global new cases) in the past week.
Amid detection of newer variants of coronavirus globally, the Centre on Monday held a high-level meeting and asked states to ramp up whole genome sequencing of positive samples and keep close watch on the global variants.
Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Dr P K Mishra, after the deliberations highlighted that while the Covid situation in the country remains stable and public health systems remain geared up, there is need for states to monitor trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases, an official statement said.
He also emphasised on sending sufficient samples for testing of COVID-19 while ramping up whole genome sequencing and maintaining close watch on the new global variants. An overview of the global COVID-19 situation was given by Health Secretary Sudhansh Pant, including certain newer variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus like BA.2.86 (Pirola) and EG.5 (Eris), which have been reported globally. He underlined that as per the World Health Organization (WHO), while EG.5 (Eris) has been reported from over 50 countries, the variant BA.2.86 (Pirola) is in four countries, the statement said.
