India on Covid alert: Screening of international passengers begins

NEW DELHI, DEC 22: With at least three cases of the Omicron subvariant that is driving the Covid surge in China being reported in India, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday held a high-level review meeting and announced a series of steps to deal with it.

While urging people to realise that Covid is not over  yet, he announced the stepping up random screening of international passengers at airports, especially those who are travelling from countries reporting a spike in cases. Mandaviya also urged people to wear masks in crowded places and take booster doses.

The subvariant the world is worried about is called BF.7. While its first case in India was detected in October in Gujarat, the second one was found a month later from the same state. The third case was from Odisha.

 Besides China, BF.7 has already reached countries like the US, the UK and European Union, Belgium, Germany, France and Denmark. Mandaviya advised all states and Union territories to send samples daily of all Covid-19 positive cases to INSACOG labs to facilitate tracking the new variants. He noted the importance of being prepared and remaining alert against new and emerging strains, especially given the upcoming festive season. He also urged people to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.

India has been witnessing a steady decline in cases, with average daily count falling to 158 in the week ending December 19. However, a consistent rise in global cases has been reported in the last six weeks, with 5.9 lakh average daily cases in the week ending December 19. The case count is particularly high in China, Japan, South Korea, France and the US.

Incubation short, is highly transmissible

BF.7, a sub-lineage of Omicron variant BA.5, has the strongest infection ability since it is highly transmissible, has a shorter incubation period and a higher capacity to cause reinfection or infect even those vaccinated

-TNIE