PMO reviews Covid status as new variants emerge

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 21

Amid the emergence of newer variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus globally, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister PK Mishra on Monday chaired a high-level meeting to review the national Covid-19 situation, preparedness and the public health impact of new strains.

Mishra highlighted that while the Covid-19 situation in the country was stable and public health systems remained geared up, there was need for states to monitor trends of influenza-like illnesses and severe acute respiratory illness cases, send sufficient samples for testing while ramping up genome sequencing and maintain close watch on the new global variants.

WHO flags 2 strains, one found in 50 nations

• EG.5 (Eris) variant has been reported from over 50 countries
• Cases of BA.2.86 (Pirola) have been witnessed in four countries
• Centre has told states to monitor trends of influenza-like illnesses
• Has asked them to send sufficient number of samples for testing

2,96,219 cases of Covid reported globally in a week

0.075% (223) cases in India

An overview of the global Covid-19 situation was given by Secretary (Health) Sudhansh Pant. He flagged newer variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus, mainly BA.2.86 (Pirola) and EG.5 (Eris), which have been reported globally.

The WHO has said that EG.5 (Eris) has been reported from over 50 countries, and BA.2.86 (Pirola) in four countries. As against 2,96,219 new global cases of Covid-19 over seven days, India, which contributes to nearly 17 per cent of the global population, has reported only 223 (0.075 per cent) cases.

“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 per cent,” Pant said. Vinod Paul, Member, Health, NITI Aayog; Rajiv Gauba, Cabinet Secretary; Amit Khare, Adviser, PMO; and Rajiv Bahl, DG-ICMR, were among top experts who attended the meeting.