New Delhi,   With the emergence of new Omicron variants leading to many countries to witness a steep rise in Covid cases, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday stressed on monitoring the points of entry and highlighted the need for community awareness for continued implementation of the Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB), especially in view of the upcoming festival season.

Chairing a review meeting with public health experts and officials, including Dr V.K. Paul, Member (Health) NITI Aayog, on present Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country, status of vaccination drive, and the global scenario of new variants of Covid-19, he stressed on the need to undertake adequate testing (with higher proportion of RT-PCR tests) and effective surveillance to assess and control the spread of infection in a timely manner.

Mandaviya directed the officials to continue to focus on surveillance across the country, particularly through sentinel sites including monitoring of SARI & ILI cases and on Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) to scan for any possible mutation in the wake of identification of Omicron variants in other countries.

He also urged officials to closely monitor hospitalisations due to Covid-19, and increase pace of vaccination including precautionary dose to the eligible beneficiaries.

Additional Secretary, Health, Lav Agarwal, made a detailed presentation on global scenario of surge in Covid cases, primarily in Europe and an analysis of various Omicron variants in the world.

The presentation included a detailed analysis of Covid-19 situation in the country with trend of Covid-19 cases, daily cases being reported, active cases, case positivity and testing status along with state-wise weekly tests per million including share of RT-PCR in tests conducted.

Additional Secretary, Health, Dr. Manohar Agnani gave a presentation on the current status of vaccination in the country, availability of vaccines, state-wise analysis of vaccine administration and highlighted the slow pace of administration of precautionary dose in the country.

The meeting was also attended by Principal Scientific Advisor to the Govt, Dr. Ajay Kumar Sood, Pharmaceutical Secretary S. Aparna, ICMR DG Dr Rajiv Bahl, and other senior officials of the Health Ministry.