Mandaviya reviews Covid-19 situation; mask mandate should continue

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday reviewed the Covid situation amid detection of cases of a new sub-variant of Omicron from parts of the country.

The meeting concluded that wearing masks and following Covid-appropriate behaviour should continue, a health ministry statement said.

With the emergence of new Omicron variants, many countries are witnessing a steep rise in Covid cases.

During the meeting with public health experts and officials, Mandaviya reviewed the pandemic situation, status of vaccination drive and the global scenario of new variants of Covid, it said.

The minister stressed on monitoring entry points, the statement said.

Mandaviya stressed the need to undertake adequate testing (with higher proportion of RTPCR) and effective Covid surveillance to assess and control the spread of infection in a timely manner.

He directed officials to continue to focus on surveillance, particularly through sentinel sites including monitoring of SARI and ILI cases, an