New COVID-19 Wave In India
The year 2019 saw the emergence of the highly contagious and life-threatening virus infection COVID-19. Caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the COVID-19 infection was named a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) after several countries reported the major breakdown of the healthcare system the virus led to. In India, the country saw three back-to-back waves of the pandemic, leading to the death of over lakhs. Now, the question is if India will see a fourth wave of virus infection in the near future.
Addressing the Rajya Sabha, the centre said that the Union health ministry is closely monitoring the Covid trajectory globally and in the country. The centre is also ready for the fight if there is a fourth wave of the COVID-19 virus in the country. "Given the emergence of variants of COVID-19 virus with variable transmissibility and other public health implications, the Union Ministry of Health is closely following COVID-19 trajectory globally and in the country along with various expert committees," the minister said at the Rajya Sabha.
Talking about the preparedness of the centre in managing future COVID outbreaks, the minister said that funding support has been provided to the states and the Union Territories (UTIs) in order to strengthen the health system to fight any kind of resurgence of the cases in the country. "India currently has National Health Mission, State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), Emergency COVID-19 Response and Preparedness packages, and PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission which can provide immediate emergency fund support to the states," Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said.
The minister also added that the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) is also actively working on the whole genome sequencing of the samples, in order to detect any new mutations of the virus. They also added that the country has a good number of people who have received both vaccines against the virus. Also, many of them have received booster shots as well.
