Written By: Satata Karmakar | Updated : December 24, 2020 10:10 AM IST
Has new strain of Covid-19 virus already entered India?
As panic spread among people after the new strain of Coronavirus surfaced in the United Kingdom, the Health Ministry in a statement has clarified that the new strain of Covid-19 virus found in the UK has not been seen in India so far.
"It's incorrect to say that the new strain of the coronavirus has entered India until it's established by a designated laboratory," India Today quoted the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as saying.
"To establish the presence of a mutant virus, it is necessary to establish a genome sequencing which could be done only through designated labs of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of Biotechnology, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and National Centre for Disease Control," he further added.
The statement of the ministry came after genomic experts suggested that there is a good chance that half of those who have tested positive in India after coming from the UK may be potential carriers of the new and more infectious Covid-19 strain.
So far, at least 20 flyers from the United Kingdom have tested Covid-19 positive in India.
The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday also issued standard operating protocols for epidemiological surveillance. These include activities to be undertaken at the point of entry and in the community for all international passengers who have traveled to or through the UK in the past four weeks, from November 25 to December 23.
Over the likelihood of a vaccine became available in January and the status of the applications by Pfizer, Serum Institute of India, and Bharat Biotech seeking emergency authorization of their COVID-19 vaccines, Paul said the three applications are pending with the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
Pfizer, he said, has not submitted data yet while more data has been sought from the other firms. One of the companies has provided new data, Paul said.
"Data is being examined. But this process is sacrosanct, driven by scientific norms, procedures, and let's see where it takes us. Once there is a decision by the drug regulator and the scientific groups that help take the decision we will move forward," he said.
Pointing out that countries like the US, Brazil, the UK, Russia, and Germany are showing new peaks in COVID cases, Bhushan said, "In comparison, India's trajectory has shown a sustained decline in COVID-19 cases since mid-September."
"India has reported 124 COVID-19 cases per million population in the last seven days as against the global figure of 588. India has reported two COVID-19 deaths per million population in the last seven days as against the global figure of 10 deaths," he said.
The average daily new cases have also shown a continuous decline from 46,301 during the first week of November to 24,135 this week. The average daily deaths have also come down from 556 during the first week of November to 343 this week, he said.
Bhushan said that 26 states and UTs have less than 10,000 active cases of COVID-19.
Sixty-one per cent of COVID-19 deaths reported in a span of 24 hours were from Maharashtra, West Bengal, Kerala, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, he said.
While 57 per cent cases reported during the same period were from Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, the health secretary said.
(With inputs from Agencies)
