January 6, 2023
NEW DELHI – Amid recent spike in cases of COVID-19 in some countries, including China, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday asked the people not to panic and avoid rumours about the new variant of the virus.
The Union health minister further asked people to remain alert and follow the directives issued by the Union government.
Mandaviya said Covid-19 variants will keep coming but the important thing is which variant will react and people should only believe information shared by government sources to avoid any kind of panic in the country.
He said that the Centre is alert and taking all preparations.
Meanwhile, in India, eleven types of COVID-19 Omicron Sub-variants were detected during testing of international passengers at airports and seaports between December 24 and January 3, official sources have said.
A total of 19,227 samples of international travellers were tested, out of which 124 were found positive and were isolated, the sources said.
“Of the 124 positive samples, genome sequencing results of 40 were received, of which XBB including XBB.1 was found in the maximum 14 samples. BF 7.4.1 has been found in one sample,” as per the official sources.
The other variants that are reported after samples from these international travellers are: BA.5.2, BQ.1.1, BQ. 1.1(22), BQ.1.1.5, CH.1.1, CH.1.1.1, BB.3, BN.1.2, BN1.3, BY1 and BF.
The sources further said that all these variants are already present in the country.
Meanwhile, India saw a slight increase in COVID infections on Thursday as it witnessed 188 new cases in the last 24 hours according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
The country recorded 175 new cases on Wednesday