Covid-19 cases are spiking in some Asian and European countries again. Chairing a high-level meeting, the minister reviewed the decision to resume scheduled international flights from 27 March, the vaccination situation and the level of genomic surveillance. “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," news agency PTI quoted an official as saying. "The minister has directed aggressive genomic sequencing, heightened surveillance and a high level of alertness," it added.
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) VK Paul, ICMR director-general Dr Balram Bhargava and AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria and Dr NK Arora, the chairman of the Covid-19 working group of NTAGI, attended the meeting. WHO alarm Meanwhile, World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has sounded a warning regarding another massive coronavirus wave and asserted after several weeks of declines, reported cases of Covid-19 are once again increasing globally, especially in parts of Asia. “These increases are occurring despite reductions in testing in some countries, which means the cases we are seeing are just the tip of the iceberg.
And we know that when Covid-19 cases increase, so do deaths," said Tedros. Continued local outbreaks & surges are to be expected, particularly in areas where measures to prevent transmission have been lifted, he said. International flight resumption This comes as the central