NEW DELHI: The centre on Sunday asked states and Union Territories (UTs) to immediately review public health and hospital preparedness measures amid a spike in respiratory illness in children in China.
The Union Health Ministry said it was monitoring the situation in the neighbouring country and stressed there was "no cause for any alarm at the moment.”
Keeping in mind the ongoing influenza and winter season that results in an increase in respiratory illness cases in the country, the ministry said that the government is closely monitoring the situation.
The ministry said that it has taken note of the reports that indicate a surge in respiratory illness among children in northern China, and is proactively monitoring the situation.
Union Health Secretary Sudhansh Pant in a letter to the states and UTs advised them to "immediately review public health and hospital preparedness measures viz. availability of HR, hospital beds, drugs and vaccines for influenza, medical oxygen, antibiotics, personal protective equipment, testing kits and reagents, functionality of oxygen plants and ventilators, infection control practices in health facilities, at a senior level."
All the states and UTs were also advised to implement ‘Operational Guidelines for Revised Surveillance Strategy in the context of Covid-19,' according to a statement issued by the ministry.
The guidelines require surveillance of respiratory pathogens presenting as cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI).
“Trends of ILI/SARI are to be closely monitored by district and state surveillance units of Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP), particularly of children and adolescents,” the statement said.
States were also asked to send nasal and throat swab samples of patients with SARI, particularly of children and adolescents, to Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDL’s) located in the states for testing for respiratory pathogens.
Recently, information shared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has indicated an increase in respiratory illness in northern parts of China.
This was predominantly attributed to usual causes like Influenza, Mycoplasma pneumonia, SARS-CoV-2 etc.
As per WHO, the release of Covid-19 restrictions coinciding with the onset of winter season in addition to cyclical trend of respiratory illnesses such as Mycoplasma pneumonia have led to this surge in the neighbouring country.
While WHO has sought additional information from Chinese authorities, it is assessed that there is no cause for any alarm at the moment.