COVID-19 cases see a sudden spike in China, the country where the virus originated, have been rising at an alarming rate leading the neighbors like India, Japan, and the United States to rush back to alerts, restrictions, and increased testing. The country’s abrupt decision to relax stringent COVID-19 measures has given rise to fears that there could be widespread infection among a largely unvaccinated population that could lead to more than a million deaths.
According to the National Health Commission of China, the country reported 1,995 new Covid-19 cases. As of Sunday, the Commission confirmed reports of 380,453 cases and 5,237 deaths in 31 provincial-level regions. However, Feigl-Ding claims that Covid deaths in China are being hugely underreported and hospitals, morgues, and pharmacies are overloaded.
Picture Courtesy: nationalheraldindia
What do the experts have to say?
Dr NK Arora, Chairman of the COVID-19 working group NTAGI stated “It is an important thing that we keep a close vigil on the Chinese situation. But I would say that there is nothing to be panicked about. There is no need for getting too much worried. The system is very vigilant, we need to be very vigilant. As far as genomic surveillance is concerned, this is the most important part we are doing genomic surveillance of individuals with symptoms.”
“We are also doing surveillance from sewage and from hospitalized individuals and even those who are coming to international airports. A certain proportion of samples is picked up randomly from them also, in case there is a new sub-variant or anything, which is of concern is picked up promptly, appropriate action can be taken,” Dr. Arora said.
Dr. Arora was critical of China’s COVID-19 situation, stating “China was following so-called zero COVID policy and as we learn from media recently they have relaxed this policy and after that, we are hearing that there is widespread COVID infection in that community with associated severe disease and deaths also. But what is the exact situation we really do not know.”
Taking to Twitter, epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding said that the world is likely to see a surge in Covid-19 cases after China and almost 10 percent of Earth’s total population will get infected with Coronavirus in the next 90 days. Adding that the new wave might not be direct via the virus directly Feigl-Ding held that another wave is on the cards.
What is India doing?
The Health Minister of the country, Mansukh Mandaviya is likely to hold a meeting with senior officials and experts on the Covid-19 situation in the country. Official sources have said that Minister will review the Covid-19 situation on Wednesday considering the international scenario.
In view of the recent rising cases of COVID19 in some countries, Union Health Ministry has requested States/UTs to send samples of all #COVID19 positive cases to INSACOG labs to track new variants, if any.
Health Ministry and INSACOG are keeping a sharp watch on the situation. pic.twitter.com/ODLTkFwsdH
— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) December 20, 2022
What has changed and what can be taken care of?
The world has witnessed what is COVID-19 capable of. With numerous spikes and waves already hitting the majority of the World, it is highly unlikely the world will not be able to face this challenge. With populations getting vaccinated and herd immunity into the frame, the world can be confident to face another outbreak. But COVID-19 has had variables that can mutate into something furthermore dangerous than it has already been which the world has to look at and function accordingly. Keep a close check on the COVID-19 situation and stay tuned to know more.
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