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| New Covid variants on move, Union Govt admits surge in cases | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, July 30: Union Government on Friday admitted that some states and Union Territories (UTs) are witnessing a surge in positive cases due to and evolution and circulation of more transmissible variants of SARS-CoV-2 viruses.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Health, Dr. Bharti Pravin Pawar said that easing of lockdown combined with pandemic fatigue, lack of community adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour and evolution and circulation of more transmissible variants of SARS-CoV-2 viruses can be attributed to the surge in Coronavirus cases in some States/UTs.
The Minister was referring to reasons for the recent surge in Coronavirus cases in some States/UTs including Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Manipur.
Minister said that as per World Health Organization, there is some evidence to indicate higher transmissibility for cases infected with variants of SARS-CoV-2 like Delta and Delta plus.
“Ministry of Health and Family Welfare after expert deliberations has concluded that the existing clinical management protocol for managing COVID-19 cases is sufficient for the treatment of cases infected with variants of the virus and doesn’t warrant any change”, the minister said.
Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV) has conducted in-vitro laboratory assays to determine the neutralization potential of variant strains of SARS-CoV-2 in comparison to the standard strain with D614G mutation.
Similar studies have also been done by other laboratories across the world.
In the case of the Alpha variant, the baseline titers of neutralizing antibodies are high in both Covishield and Covaxin.
In the case of the Delta variant, the baseline titers of neutralizing antibodies are very high in Covishield and significantly high in Covaxin. Both the vaccines are sufficient to neutralize the delta variant strain.
“Although Health is a state subject, the Government of India has provided the required technical support and has also supported the states through logistic and financial support to further strengthen the existing health infrastructure to tackle COVID-19 pandemic”, the minister informed.
The government of India has roped in tertiary care hospitals under other ministries to supplement the hospital facilities. Further, many large temporary treatment facilities were established by DRDO to manage a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country. The isolation bed capacity and ICU bed capacity were also enhanced continuously. The daily liquid medical oxygen (LMO) supply was increased by the enhancement of LMO production in steel plants as well as in other LMO plants. Further, restrictions were also imposed on the industrial use of oxygen.
Online digital solutions viz. Oxygen Demand Aggregation system (ODAS) and Oxygen Digital Tracking System (ODTS) have been developed to ascertain the demand for medical oxygen from all medical facilities and to track their transportation.
All States/UT and State Drugs Controllers have been requested to verify stock of the drug and check other malpractices and take effective steps to curb hoarding and black marketing of Remdesivir. |
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