Covid: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal To Hold Emergency Meet On Thursday

Delhi Coronavirus Update: The central government on Tuesday urged all states and Union territories to accelerate the whole genome sequencing of positive samples.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal digitally addresses media.

Source : File Photo/PTI

New Delhi: In response to the sudden increase in Covid cases in several countries including China, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and the US, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will call an emergency meeting on Thursday, said officials, reported news agency PTI. They stated that the chief minister has directed the health department to ensure the genome sequencing of samples and take any other necessary steps to meet any eventuality. The Delhi government is monitoring the COVID-19 situation.

An official stated on Wednesday that "Delhi government is alert. CM Kejriwal has called an emergency meeting regarding coronavirus tomorrow."

The central government on Tuesday urged all states and Union territories to accelerate the whole genome sequencing of positive samples in response to an increase in COVID-19 cases in many countries. 

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan stated in a letter to the states and UTs that such an exercise will facilitate the necessary public health measures and enable the timely detection of any newer variants circulating in the country.

Three cases of Omicron subvariant BF.7, which appears to be the strain responsible for China's current surge in Covid cases, have been found in India so far, official sources said on Wednesday, reported news agency PTI. The Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre discovered the first BF.7 case in India in October. They stated that Gujarat has reported two cases and Odisha has reported one case so far.

Experts at the Covid review meeting on Wednesday, which was presided over by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, stated that, despite the fact that the overall caseload of Covid has not increased as of yet, it is necessary to continue surveillance in order to keep track of both existing variants and new variants.

Official sources quoted by PTI claim that the highly transmissible Omicron strain, most commonly BF.7, which is the main variant spreading in Beijing and is contributing to a larger surge in Covid infections in China, is currently affecting cities.

The COVID-19 public health problem persists worldwide, with approximately 35 lakh new cases reported each week.

(With PTI Inputs)