As horrifying visuals, reminiscent of the peak COVID-19 pandemic, make it to social media, concerns build up about the next step. People know only too well how COVID-19 spreads and the immense toll it is capable of taking. With increasing COVID cases in China that have filled up its hospitals, the Indian government too is on an alert mode but experts have urged everyone not to panic.
The Health Ministry and INSACOG are keeping a sharp watch on the situation, the ministry said. The ministry has called for early detection, isolation, testing and timely management of suspected and confirmed cases to detect and contain COVID-19 outbreaks. It said that in view of the sudden spurt in cases in Japan, US, South Korea, Brazil and China, “it is essential to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive case samples”. It also asked states to send samples of all positive cases to INSACOG on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is scheduled to hold a review meeting with top officials and experts today to discuss the COVID situation. However, experts have said that India is well-equipped and has urged people to not panic.
Joint MD of Apollo Hospitals Dr Sangita Reddy said that India must focus on restrictions on air travel. She said that there is no need for public panic on the surge of COVID cases. “However, having said that, there is no place for inertia. We must act swiftly on our policy regarding air travel to and from China,” she said.
Serum Institute of India chief Adar Poonawalla has said that there is no need to panic considering India’s excellent vaccine coverage.
Subramanian Swaminathan, Director, Gleneagles Health said that India is probably in a better shape than before in battling COVID. “But what we don’t know is what is really scary. At this point at least, there are a lot of positives to take away. And a couple of concerns that we have and maybe areas where we could strengthen and improve but overall we could say that we are in a much better position than we ever were with regards to COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) chief Dr N K Arora on Tuesday said that while it is important to keep a close vigil on the COVID situation, there is no need to panic. "We're hearing that there's widespread Covid infection in China. As far as India is concerned, India is extensively immunised with effective vaccines, especially the adult population. INSACOG data shows that almost all sub-variants of Omicron found everywhere in the world are found in India; there are not many sub-variants that aren't circulating here. Important to keep a close vigil on China's situation, but no need to panic as the situation is in control," he said.
Despite what experts are saying, an epidemiologist and health economist’s warning has gone viral. Calling the COVID resurgence “thermonuclear bad”, Eric Feigl-Ding said that 60 per cent of China and 10 per cent of the global population is likely to be infected in the next 90 days.