PUNJAB CM WILL MEET WITH OFFICIALS TODAY TO DISCUSS THE SITUATION IN LIGHT OF THE RISE OF INFECTIONS IN CHINA

With a sharp increase in cases in China's neighbour, Covid-19 is receiving increased attention in India, with a focus on masks, genome sequencing, and random testing at airports.

Over the past few weeks, India's average daily Covid-19 case count has been declining; in the week ending December 19, it dropped to 158.

India has refocused attention on Covid-19 as neighbouring China experiences a recent spike in infection rates, one of the biggest outbreaks in the country in the previous two years.

Thursday's high-level review conference was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who emphasised that the pandemic is "not over yet" and gave instructions to officials to strengthen the current monitoring procedures, particularly at international airports. He recommended people to adopt Covid-appropriate behaviour at all times, particularly as the holiday season approaches, and called for increased Covid-19 testing and genome sequencing.

The central government is constantly keeping a "close eye" on new Covid-19 variants, according to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who also held a review meeting with officials and public health experts on Wednesday. Mandaviya also said that random testing of foreign arrivals is taking place at airports.

The BF.7 variety, which is a sublineage of Omicron BA.5 and is not a recent development, is to blame for the current increase of Covid-19 cases in China. There were worries after four BF.7 instances were found in India, but scientists indicated there is no need for concern as these individuals have had the virus and had recovered.

Over the past two weeks, India's average daily Covid-19 case count has continued to decline, down to 158 in the week ending December 19.