Health Minister Directs High Alertness, Aggressive Genome Sequencing as Covid Cases Spike in Asia, Europe

"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.

Children and their caregivers arrive for school in New York, Monday, March 7, 2022. New York City passed a COVID-19 milestone on Monday as masks became optional in city schools and restaurants and other businesses could stop asking patrons for proof of vaccination. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) — As the country is going through Anzac long weekend, the Ministry has warned people to take health measures to protect themselves from the virus.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday chaired a high-Level meeting on the rising number of Covid cases in China and other countries. The Minister directed officials to maintain a high level of alertness and surveillance, and carry out genomic sequencing aggressively. At a high-level meeting, chaired by the minister, the government’s decision of resuming scheduled international flights from March 27, the vaccination situation and the level of genomic surveillance were reviewed.

“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.