Global spike in COVID cases puts India on high alert

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed concerns over global spike in COVID cases in the last one week and subsequent drop in testing rates in many countries.

The WHO issued a statement warning countries against complacency and asked governments to remain vigilant against the new variants of the virus.

China is battling a renewed surge of COVID-19 wave, which experts say is the worst in last two years. At a time when most countries are limping back to normalcy, about 30 million people in China are under strict lockdown. As of March 15, China has recorded 122,456 cases with confirmed symptoms. The stealth variant of omicron, BA.2, has been blamed for the rise in cases.

COVID-19 cases have begun to rise in the US and many European countries. On March 16, the WHO warned of an uptick in cases in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine.

Also read: China reports more than double COVID-19 cases in a day as outbreak continues

France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Switzerland are opening public places though cases have been rising steadily in these countries.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “These increase are occurring despite reductions in testing in some countries, which means the cases we’re seeing are just the tip of the iceberg.”

The WHO also blamed low vaccination rates and loads of “misinformation” about the vaccine for spike in cases worldwide.

In the past week, the health agency has reported an 8 per cent increase in detection of COVID-19 cases, with more than 11 million positive test results.

Tedros warned that when cases tick up, so do deaths. Continued local outbreaks and surges are to be expected, particularly in areas where measures to prevent transmission have been lifted, but that there are ‘unacceptably high’ levels of mortality in many countries, especially where vaccination levels are low among susceptible populations.

“Each country is facing a different situation with different challenges, but the pandemic is not over,” the WHO chief reiterated.

Situation in India

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya has asked the health machinery to remain alert, seeking a high-level of preparedness besides aggressive genome sequencing and intensive surveillance.

Mandaviya reviewed India’s COVID preparedness on Wednesday (March 16) in view of the renewed wave in China and Europe.

The Centre is also reviewing its decision to allow international flights from March 27, but no decision has been taken in the matter yet.

India on Wednesday reported 2,876 new cases and the number of active cases stands at 32,811.