No New Coronavirus Variants In India, No Possibility Of Surge Next Week: Govt Covid Panel

The Centre has said that there is no need to panic, but it was keeping a close watch on European, North American and East Asian countries.

A medic wearing PPE collects sample for COVID-19 test at public health centre in Bengaluru. ( Image Source :PTI )

The intensity of circulation of the coronavirus in India is low, but the COVID working group has stepped up surveillance and airport screening. Moreover, no new variant is being detected in the latest surveillance.

The Centre has said that there is no need to panic, but it was keeping a close watch on European, North American and East Asian countries. Chairman of the COVID working group NK Arora told news agency ANI: "The COVID variants are not been able to gain a foothold or cause hospitalisation. There is no need to panic, but we need to keep a very close watch on European, North American & East Asian countries."

"The virus is very much here, but it is not intensely circulating in the country. We have stepped up our genomic surveillance and started airport screening. Whatever we have found is not that we are getting any new variants," he said.

He said that sewage sampling had also been done, but no new variant has been found and "there is no possibility of a surge in the coming week". "The Omicron variant we are seeing in India can also be seen in any part of the world," Arora said.

India logged 121 fresh coronavirus infections on Tuesday and the number of active cases came down to 2,319, according to Union health ministry data. The total number of COVID-19 cases now stands at 4.46 crore (4,46,80,215). The death toll increased to 5,30,722 with one death reported from Delhi in the last 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am stated. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.07 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate stood at 0.11 per cent.

The active cases comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.80 per cent, according to the health ministry website.

A decrease of 52 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,47,174. The case fatality rate stood at 1.19 per cent.