COVID-19 news: As positive cases surge in China, Indian government's BIG move

Amid the rising COVID-19 cases in India, the Indian government on Tuesday (December 20) got into action and outlined several steps to prevent the surge of COVID-19 in the country. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is scheduled to meet senior government officials and experts today to hold discussions over the COVID situation.

According to reports, the secretaries of health and Ayush ministries, Department of Pharmaceuticals and Department of Biotechnology, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Rajiv Bahl, Member (Health) of NITI Aayog V K Paul and National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) Chairman N L Arora and other senior officials may attend the meeting.

On Tuesday, the government issued direction to all states and Union Territories to send all COVID-19 cases to INSACOG genome sequencing labs. It may berecalled that INSACOG was constituted by the Union Health Ministry to track different COVID-19 strains in the country.

"ln view of the sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, United States of America, Republic of Korea, Brazil and China, it is essential to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track the variants," Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote in a letter to all states.

"Such an exercise will enable timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country and will facilitate undertaking of requisite public health measures for the same," added the letter.

Meanwhile, as per Union Health Ministry's data, a total of 112 new COVID-19 cases were reported from across the country over the last 24 hours. The number of fresh COVID casesd on Monday were 181.

Notably, China is witnessing an unprecendented surge of COVID cases and the death toll due to the deadly virus is also rising in the world's most populous nation. The situation became grim after the Chinese government decided to change its Zero Covid policy which allowed the authorities to impose tiugh lockdowns and testing at mass level.

Several media reports claimed that the sudden spike in COVID-19 cases has put a massive burden on Chinese hospitals, with some reports claiming that China is also facing a shortage of medicine. The burial grounds are reportedly overflowing with COVID-19 victims.