The Center conducted a high-level meeting on Monday to assess the situation of Corona cases in the country. The meeting was led by PK Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, to assess the current state and preparedness of COVID-19. During this time, the states were encouraged to expand testing, genome sequencing, and keep a constant eye out for new worldwide corona virus variants.
Recently, Corona cases have increased in many countries due to the new variant of Corona BA.2.86. This high-level meeting was attended by NITI Aayog member Dr. Vinod Paul, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, PMO Advisor Amit Khare, and other officials.
The Health Secretary briefed the members present in the meeting on the global status of growing corona cases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), whereas the EG.5 (Aris) variant has been reported in more than 50 countries, the BA.2.86 (Pirola) variant has been detected in four countries. The meeting also learned that in the last seven days, a total of 2,96,219 new instances of COVID-19 were recorded globally, while just 223 new cases were reported in India in the same period. According to the Health Secretary, the daily average of new Corona cases in the country remains below 50.
PK Mishra underlined that, while the situation with COVID-19 in the country is steady, states must maintain a close eye on the emerging global variants that are speeding up genome sequencing. States must keep an eye out for influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI).
According to data issued by the Union Health Ministry on Monday, 5,31,926 people have died as a result of coronavirus infection. The total number of people infected to date is 4,49,96,653.
