India Should Keep Close Vigil On COVID Situation, No Need To Panic: Dr NK Arora, Covid Panel Chief

New Delhi: Amid the rising COVID cases in China, a top Indian health expert on Tuesday (December 20) cautioned the people while asking them to keep a close vigil on the situation in the country. However, the expert said that there is nothing to panic about as the country’s system is “vigilant”. The remarks were made by Dr NK Arora, Chairman of the COVID-19 working group NTAGI. He said,

It is an important thing that we keep a close vigil on the Chinese situation. But I would say that there is nothing to be panicked about. There is no need for getting too much worried. The system is very vigilant, we need to be very vigilant. As far as genomic surveillance is concerned, this is the most important part we are doing genomic surveillance of individuals with symptoms.

Also Read: India On Alert Mode Amid Surge In COVID-19 Infections In Other Countries

Exuding confidence in India’s preparedness to tackle the COVID situation, the expert said that the country can take appropriate action in case of the emergence of a new sub-variant.

Dr Arora said,

We are also doing surveillance from sewage and from hospitalised individuals and even those who are coming to international airports. A certain proportion of samples is picked up randomly from them also, in case there is a new sub-variant or anything, which is of concern is picked up promptly, appropriate action can be taken.

“So overall we find that the situation in India is under control. But we need to maintain vigilance, particularly for surveillance,” he added.

Dr Arora also said that the exact situation of COVID in China is still unclear. He said,

China was following so-called Zero COVID policies and as we learn from media recently they have relaxed this policy and after that, we are hearing that there is widespread COVID infection in that community with associated severe disease and deaths also. But what is the exact situation we really do not know.

Also Read: Multidisciplinary Experts Across Countries Reach Consensus On Ending COVID-19 As Public Health Threat

According to the expert, vaccination and hybrid immunity will be helpful in protecting people in India from COVID.

As far as India is concerned, there are three or four things which we need to keep in mind. One is that India has an extensively immunised adult population, particularly with very effective vaccines. In addition, there are several data which indicate that over 90 per cent of our individuals have also been affected by natural COVID infection. So, the Indian population is immunised with what we call as hybrid immunity. Third thing is that the INSACOG data shows that almost every sub-variant of Omicron which is found anywhere else in the world is also found in India. So, there are not many sub-variants which are not circulating here.

Meanwhile, the last Covid-19 fatality in Beijing, which was seeing thousands of Covid positive cases before the revocation of the Zero Covid policy was on November 23.

After it, China stopped reporting asymptomatic patients which is a major part of the Covid tally. The country also scrapped the once common Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing apparatus and instead used rapid antigen kits which are known to be a little inaccurate. This pointed out that the data was altered or stood meaningless, according to The Straits Times.

Also Read: World Health Organization Hopes COVID-19 Will No Longer Be A Global Health Emergency In 2023

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.