“While the COVID-19 situation in the country remains stable and public health systems in the country remain geared up, there is need for States to monitor trends of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) cases, and send sufficient samples for testing of COVID-19 while ramping up Whole Genome Sequencing,” P.K. Mishra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, after chairing a high-level meeting on August 21 to review the global and national COVID-19 situation, newer variants of the virus in circulation, and their public health impact.
He added that India must maintain close watch on new global variants of the virus.
The Health Ministry provided an overview of COVID-19 globally, including newer variants BA.2.86 (Pirola) and EG.5 (Eris), which have been reported globally
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), while EG.5 (Eris) has been reported from over 50 countries, the BA.2.86 (Pirola) variant has been reported from four countries.
It was also noted that, globally, a total of 2,96,219 new cases of COVID-19 had been reported in the past seven days. India, which makes up nearly 17% of the global population, has reported only 223 cases (0.075% of global new cases) in the past week.
Also, the daily average of new COVID-19 cases continues to be below 50 from the entire country, and India has managed to maintain a weekly test positivity rate of less than 0.2%. An overview of the genome sequencing of different variants circulating in India was also provided.
The meeting was attended by Vinod Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, and Rajiv Gauba, Union Cabinet Secretary, among others.
