Current surge of Covid-19 in India showing declining trend, says Health Minister

New Delhi, February 8: Covid-19 variant Omicron is currently dominant in India and the current surge of coronavirus in the country is showing a sustained declining trend since January 21, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. With the reporting of Omicron, a highly mutated variant of SARSCoV-2 virus and its classification as a Variant of Concern (VoC) by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Union Ministry of Health revised its ‘Guidelines for international arrivals’, Mansukh Mandaviya said in a written reply. Also read | Truckers' protest: Canadian airlines cancel flights, call for end of travel restrictions Following a risk based approach, provisions for mandatory pre-departure and post arrival RT-PCR testing on day 8th of arrival and a mandatory home quarantine for 7 days have been made in the present guidelines for all international travellers to India. [caption id="attachment_585541" align="aligncenter"] Current surge of Covid-19 in India showing declining trend, says Health Minister.[/caption] The Ministry of Health continues to provide technical guidance for managing various aspects of Covid-19, including containment and surveillance, testing, clinical management protocols, etc., the minister said. The clinical management protocols have also been disseminated under the Ministry of Health’s Centre of Excellence initiative for all states in collaboration with AIIMS, Delhi and Indian Medical Association. Besides regular review meetings at the level of Union Health Minister with all relevant stakeholders, including subject experts, review meetings with states and UTs through video conferencing have been conducted regularly to review preparedness and response measures to address COVID-19 pandemic, he said. States and UTs have been advised to undertake several activities which include strict monitoring of international travellers in the community, contact tracing of Covid-19 positive individuals and follow up for 14 days and genome sequencing of positive samples through INSACOG Labs in a prompt manner. [caption id="attachment_585542" align="aligncenter"] Current surge of Covid-19 in India showing declining trend, says Health Minister.[/caption] Also read | Ahmedabad serial blasts case: Gujarat court convicts 49 accused, acquits 28 Further, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said the Centre had not hidden the number of deaths due to Covid-19 in the country. The Health Minister said the Centre compiled the data on Covid-19 fatalities on the basis of the inputs provided by state governments and administrators of the Union Territories. "Around 5.33 lakh deaths have been reported in the country so far out of which Kerala has reconciled more than 20,000 deaths," Mandaviya said during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. [caption id="attachment_585543" align="aligncenter"] Current surge of Covid-19 in India showing declining trend, says Health Minister.[/caption] Meanwhile, India reported 67,597 new coronavirus cases and 1,188 deaths in the last 24 hours, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday. With this, the country's cumulative case tally reached 4,23,39,611, while the death toll has mounted to 5,02,874. -PTC News