Centre Taking Guard Afresh Against Covid-19
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 20: Amidst warning coming from the United States that Covid-19 was again posing threat to “people everywhere,” the central government on Tuesday asked all the states and union territories to gear up genome sequencing of positive cases to keep track of the emerging variants.
The new instruction was issued as the country was watching a sudden spurt in Covid-19 cases in Japan, South Korea, Brazil, China and the U.S. even though India recorded the lowest number of weekly deaths due to Covid since March, 2020, last week. In his letter to States and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said genome sequencing exercise would enable timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country and would facilitate undertaking of requisite public health measures.
He highlighted that India with its focus on the five-fold strategy of test-track-treat-vaccination and adherence to COVID-appropriate behaviour has been able to restrict the transmission of the coronavirus and is having around 1,200 cases on a weekly basis. Public health challenge of COVID-19 still persists around the world with around 35 lakh cases reported weekly, Mr. Bhushan pointed out. India recorded 112 new Covid cases on Tuesday morning with active cases falling to 3,490, according to Health Ministry data.
Bhushan also referred to the operational guidelines for revised surveillance strategy in context of COVID- 19 issued by the ministry in June this year. It calls for early detection, isolation, testing, and timely management of suspected and confirmed cases to detect and contain outbreaks of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. “Therefore, monitoring the trends of existing variants is of crucial importance,” he said.
“In view of the sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, United States of America, Republic of Korea, Brazil and China, it is essential to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track the variants through Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network,” he said. “In this context, all States are requested to ensure that as far as possible samples of all positive cases, on a daily basis, are sent to the designated INSACOG Genome Laboratories that are mapped to States and UTs,” he added.
Dr Samiran Panda of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), however, re-assured the country that the spurt in Covid cases in China and in some other countries in the world need not necessarily mean that the horror could definitely return to India in the coming days.
COVID-19 horror stories leaking out of China and new cases reported from the US have caused concern to the authorities world-wide. The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium, or INSACOG, is a consortium of over 50 laboratories to monitor genomic variations in the COVID-19 virus. Genome sequencing is a technique used to identify and understand the characteristics of new virus strains.
Cases are soaring across China, with hospitals struggling and pharmacy shelves stripped bare in the wake of the government’s sudden decision to lift years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing. The United States has warned the outbreak is now of concern to the rest of the world, given the potential for further mutations and the size of China’s economy.
In China’s capital Beijing, local authorities on Tuesday reported just five deaths from Covid, up from two the previous day. Beijing health officials said only those who had directly died of respiratory failure caused by the virus would be counted under Covid death statistics.
“At present after being infected with the Omicron variant, the main cause of death remains underlying diseases,” Wang Guiqiang of Peking University First Hospital said. The US State Department said the surge was now a matter of international concern. “We know that any time the virus is spreading, that it is in the wild, that it has the potential to mutate and to pose a threat to people everywhere,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said. “The toll of the virus is of concern to the rest of the world given the size of China’s GDP [gross domestic product], given the size of China’s economy,” he added.
But even as experts said people in China would have to wait for at least a year to get some respite from infections following an estimate that at least 60 per cent of China’s population was likely to be infected over the next 90 days, Dr Panda said it was not necessary that whatever was happening in China would necessarily be repeated in India.
“Although I do not have details about the variant that is currently circulating in China, but I have realised that the projections are based on what has already happened over the last three months and what might happen in the future. One thing is for sure in the coming days, many people might get infected but that wouldn’t necessarily mean that they have severe illnesses,” Dr Panda said.
China’s zero-COVID policy necessitated severe restrictions in a locality. So, people put under the restriction remained extremely vulnerable to infections. And since China is now moving away from the policy, there’s a surge in infections. This was expected and is normal, he pointed out.
According to Dr Panda, all countries are different from each other in terms of demography. Whatever happened in 2020 will not be replicated again because now we know how the virus behaves, what the immunity of people is like and what’s vaccination coverage. Therefore, it’s not like one country experiencing a surge would have an effect on other countries. It is wrong to assume that whatever is happening in China is going to happen in India,” he said.
