NEW DELHI: India is monitoring domestic public health situation amid a fresh surge in COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong and Singapore, official sources said Monday.
As Asian countries including China and Thailand reported a sharp rise in cases in the past few weeks, the Union Health Ministry held a review meeting to assess the current COVID-19 situation in India.
“The Union Health Ministry remains vigilant and proactive in monitoring the situation closely, ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to safeguard public health,” according to official sources.
“The meeting concluded that the current COVID-19 situation in India remains under control,” they added.
Sources added that as of May 19, the number of active COVID-19 cases in India stands at 257, a very low figure considering the country’s large population.
They added that almost all of these cases are mild and do not require hospitalisation.
“A robust system for surveillance of respiratory viral illnesses, including Covid-19, also exists in the country through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) and ICMR,” they said.
The review meeting, which was convened under the chairpersonship of the Director General of Health Services (DGHS), was attended by experts from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Emergency Medical Relief (EMR) division, Disaster Management Cell, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and central government hospitals.
Officials said that, according to preliminary information, the cases reported in Singapore and Hong Kong “are mostly mild, not associated with unusual severity or mortality.”
The surge in cases in Asian countries created concern, as it came more than five years after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.
The WHO declared an end to COVID-19, which wreaked global havoc, in May 2023, more than three years after the virus was first detected in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. However, the world health body urged governments to maintain virus surveillance and sequencing and ensure access to affordable and reliable tests, treatments and vaccines.