ICMR calls a high-level meeting as covid-19 surges, driven by Omicron
Priyanka Sharma [email protected] A high-level meeting has been called in the coming week to chalk out a strategy to stem the recent spike in covid cases and to review the efficacy of current surveillance measures.
The meeting will be chaired by Dr VK Paul, member (health), Niti Aayog. Last week, scientists at the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) reviewed the genomic surveillance data which showed the surge is being driven by Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.
It also showed the presence of BA.2 and BA.2.38 in the country. In a worrying trend, India has been reporting around 13,000 new cases every day with Maharashtra (22,828 active cases), Kerala (21,275), Delhi (5,119), Karnataka (4,825), Tamil Nadu (3,073), Haryana (2,945) and Uttar Pradesh (2,323) leading the tally.
Dr Samiran Panda, Additional Director General at the Indian Council of Medical Research, said, “Within 2-3 days, ICMR’s national Task Force on Covid-19 will meet to deliberate on the covid surge in the country -- how things are going in terms of surveillance strategy and future trends etc." Explaining the reasons behind recent surge, Dr Raman Gangakhedkar, epidemiologists and national chair, ICMR said, “People think that Omicron is mild.
United States
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India
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