Mandaviya issues alert in India as Covid cases spike in Asia, Europe
New Delhi, March 16: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday directed officials to maintain a high level of alertness and surveillance, and carry out genomic sequencing aggressively amid a rise in Covid-19 cases in some European and East Asian countries.
At a high-level meeting, chaired by Mansukh Mandaviya, the government’s decision of resuming scheduled international flights from March 27, the vaccination situation and the level of genomic surveillance were reviewed.
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“Given the rising cases in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam and some European countries, a high-level meeting was held by the Union health minister with senior government officials and experts. The minister has directed aggressive genomic sequencing, heightened surveillance and a high level of alertness,” an official source said.
Senior government officials, including Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, Department of Biotechnology secretary Dr Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary in the Department of Pharmaceuticals S Aparna, NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul, ICMR Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava and AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria and Dr N K Arora, the chairman of the Covid-19 working group of NTAGI, attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, as India's Covid-19 vaccination drive expanded to children in the age group 12-14 years, and those above 60 also became eligible for precaution dose, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged people in these age groups to get vaccinated.
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Children in the age group 12-14 years will be administered the Corbevax vaccine manufactured by Hyderabad-based Biological E starting today. Meanwhile, the co-morbidity clause for administering precaution doses to those aged 60 years has been removed and all above 60 years of the age can be administered with precaution dose starting today (Wednesday).
"Today is an important day in India's efforts to vaccinate our citizens. Now onwards, youngsters in the 12-14 age group are eligible for vaccines and all those above 60 are eligible for precaution doses. I urge people in these age groups to get vaccinated," the Prime Minister tweeted.
PM Modi also reiterated that India's vaccination drive is backed by "science."
"India's vaccination drive, which is the largest in the world, is science-driven. We began work to create vaccines in early 2020, to protect our citizens and strengthen our fight against the pandemic," he further said.
-PTC News
