NEW DELHI: As Covid cases witness a spike in the country, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday said there is a need to be alert but not panic. He asked the states and Union Territories to be prepared with mock drills of hospital preparedness, increased surveillance, and effective communication with people.
Mandaviya, who chaired a high-level Covid review meeting with health ministers of various states to assess the current status and hospital preparedness to combat the situation, stressed that health is not an area for any politics.
The meeting came on the day the ministry confirmed 21 cases of the new Coronavirus variant JN.1.
The JN.1, which is surging in many countries including the US, China and Singapore, has been declared by the World Health Organisation as a “variant of interest” after its rapid rise around the world.
While Goa has reported 19 cases of the JN.1 variant, Maharashtra and Kerala have recorded one case each, according to ministry officials. According to Union health ministry data, three deaths were reported in Kerala. The country recorded 614 Covid cases, with over 500 from Kerala alone, in the last 24 hours. This was the highest since May 20, when 756 cases were reported.
In his virtual meeting with state health ministers, which was also attended by Kerala’s health minister Veena George, Mandaviya asked for smooth coordination between the Centre and the states to ensure efficient management of Covid.
Reminding that Covid is not over yet, he said the states need to monitor emerging evidence of Covid cases, symptoms and case severity to plan an appropriate public health response. “Let us undertake mock drills once every three months at both the Central and state levels and share best practices,” he said, as he urged all states and UTs to ensure preventive measures are taken, given the cold conditions during the winter, and the coming festival season.
NITI Ayog member V K Paul said that in the past two weeks, 16 deaths were reported in people with serious comorbidities. “Currently, there are around 2,300 active cases of Covid-19 in the country. The upsurge is due to the Covid JN.1 variant. There is no need to panic,” he said.