NEW DELHI: Starting next week, India will make Covid-19 negative reports mandatory for international arrivals from countries reporting a spike in cases so as to further minimise ingress of any new variant of the bug into the country.

“In the next one week, selected countries will be identified where the caseload is higher,” Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a TV interview on Friday. “People from there who come to India will have to upload their Covid-19 RTPCR reports,” he added.Countries reporting a surge in Covid-19 cases include China, the US, Japan, Korea, France, Greece and Italy.

On Thursday, the health ministry had announced new travel guidelines for international arrivals, which included 2% random Covid tests of passengers from hotspot countries. A day later, the ministry advised states to be alert in view of the upcoming Christmas and New Year festivities and directed them to strengthen surveillance, ramp up testing, and ensure the wearing of masks, especially in crowded spaces, including indoors.

Mandaviya held a Covid review meeting with state health ministers and asked them to ensure hospital infrastructure is ready to meet any eventuality. He directed them to carry out mock drills in hospitals to check their preparedness. “Need to collectively reinvigorate the system and remove any sense of complacency and fatigue,” he said and requested them to expedite testing.

India’s first nasal Covid vaccine is ready for use
India’s first intranasal Covid vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech has been approved by the Union Health Ministry as a booster dose and will be available on the CoWIN platform from today

NEW DELHI: Amid rising Covid-19 cases globally, especially in China, India’s top virologist Dr Gagandeep Kang said on Friday that India is doing fine as both Omcricon sub-variants XBB and BF.7, which have been in India for a while, have not driven an upsurge.

“At the moment, India is doing fine. We have a few cases, we have had the XBB & BF.7 for a while, and they have not driven an upsurge in India. In the absence of an even more highly infectious variant, I do not expect a surge,” she said in a series of tweets, in which she addressed various concerns and fears, from the situation in China, and India, booster doses, wearing of masks and travel plans.

“But will we be able to detect a new variant or a surge? We have ample sequencing capacity & if sequencing is done in real-time, we absolutely can. When hospitals begin to see severe cases, we will know. Need to & can understand & measure both the virus & the disease,” she added.

The professor of the Department of Gastrointestinal Sciences at the Christian Medical College in Vellore said, “in India.., we already have XBB and BF.7 (the two being hyped as new monsters). They are, like all Omicron sub-variants, very good at infecting people because they escape the immune response that prevents infection, but is not causing more severe disease than delta.”Both Omicron sub-variants XBB and BF.7 are driving the Covid surge globally.

Her long-chain tweets came when the Indian government has stepped up its surveillance in the wake of a Covid surge globally, especially in China, where BF.7 is driving the hike in cases, with viral videos of hospitals and crematoriums overwhelmed by the pressure.  “Does all of the hype mean that the threat to India is high? Our population is vaccinated with the primary series, & has had high rates of infection (90% estimated). Most conditions were during Omicron, & this gives us hybrid immunity,” she said.

With the health ministry announcing that they will be conducting random testing of two per cent of international travellers from Saturday, Dr Kang said, “it has little value.” “Randomly increasing testing has little value. Testing incoming travellers needs a risk-based framework, but X% sampling also means that you accept that every incoming case will not be detected. In other words, increasing testing needs a strategic approach.”

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to chair on Thursday afternoon a high-level meeting to review the Covid-19 situation and its related aspects in the county

In the last six months, India reported four cases of the BF.7 Omicron sub-variant, which is driving the current surge of infections in China.

Sources said there are currently 10 different variants of Covid-19 in the country, with the latest being BF.7.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting to review the prevailing Covid-19 situation in the country and the preparedness of the public health system for surveillance, containment, and management of the pandemic.

He urged people to follow Covid-appropriate behavior and get vaccinated against Covid-19.Emphasizing that the pandemic is not over yet, he asked officials to be fully geared up to challenge and step up surveillance.

Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases globally, the central government briefed all states to conduct genome sequencing of samples, the additional chief secretary of Health Manoj Agarwal informed on Wednesday.

“Yesterday (Tuesday), the central government briefed all states on the increasing trend of Covid-19 variants in parts of the world and asked them to ensure that whole genome sequencing is done in all states,” he said.

There has been an alarming surge in Covid cases in China, Japan, South Korea, France, and the United States. The spike is being blamed on the new Omicron sub-variant BF.7, which has also been detected in four Indian states. 

NEW DELHI:   Nearly 250 deaths due to rabies were reported in the country this year from 18 states, with Karnataka reporting the highest number of 32 deaths, followed by 24 deaths each from Maharashtra and West Bengal, the Union Health Ministry told the Lok Sabha on Friday. 

While Tamil Nadu reported 22 deaths, followed by 21 deaths each from Kerala and Telangana, both Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh recorded 19 deaths each, followed by Delhi and Bihar. Both the states reported 18 deaths each due to rabies, Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, said in a written reply.

The ministry said that some deaths have occurred in persons who had been administered post-exposure prophylaxis in Kerala and were sent for repeat quality testing at Central Drugs Laboratory, Kasauli. 
“All the tested batches have been reported to be conforming to required quality standards,” Pawar said in reply to a question on the testing of samples and quality of vaccines that lead to deaths in Kerala, despite being administered to the victims.

The deaths of at least six victims, who had taken the anti-rabies vaccine, had triggered a major debate in Kerala over the efficacy of the vaccine. The state reported nearly 2 million dog bites. The central government had dispatched a team following the furore. The minister said that as per information provided by the Kerala government, all vaccines and immunoglobulin batches had been tested for quality before delivery.

Pawar said the ministry had launched the National Rabies Control since the 12th Five-Year Plan for prevention and control of rabies. The National Rabies Control Program has been implemented in the entire country (Except in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep).

The minister said various initiatives had been taken, including procurement of an Anti-Rabies Vaccine for animal bite victims through the National Free Drug Initiative, capacity building through training of medical officers and health workers and strengthening surveillance of human rabies and dog bite cases.
She said that all the vaccines are tested for standard quality and released by Central Drugs Laboratory, Kasauli.

On what steps the government is taking to ensure the availability of vaccines in the country, the minister said that  all manufacturers have been asked to ensure that the manufacturing of anti-rabies vaccines is carried out with total capacity and the first preference may be accorded to meet domestic requirements including government institution supplies in the country.

United Nations: As the world population touched 8 billion on Tuesday, India was the largest contributor to the milestone, having added 177 million people, while China, whose contribution to the next billion in the global population is projected to be in the negative, the UN said.

India is expected to surpass China as the world’s most populous nation by next year.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA), in a special graphic to mark the global population reaching eight billion, said Asia and Africa has driven much of this growth is expected to drive the next billion by 2037, while Europe’s contribution will be negative due to declining population.

The world added a billion people in the last 12 years. UNFPA said that as the world adds the next billion to its tally of inhabitants, China’s contribution will be negative.

“India, the largest contributor to the 8 billion (177 million) will surpass China, which was the second largest contributor (73 million) and whose contribution to the next billion will be negative, as the world’s most populous nation by 2023,” UNFPA said.

The UN said that it took about 12 years for the world population to grow from 7 to 8 billion, but the next billion is expected to take about 14.5 years (2037), reflecting the slowdown in global growth.

World population is projected to reach a peak of around 10.4 billion people during the 2080s and is expected to remain at that level until 2100.

For the increase from 7 to 8 billion, around 70 per cent of the added population was in low-income and lower-middle-income countries.

For the increase from 8 to 9 billion, these two groups of countries are expected to account for more than 90 per cent of global growth, the UN said.

Between now and 2050, the global increase in the population under the age 65 will occur entirely in low income and lower-middle-income countries, since population growth in high-income and upper-middle income countries will occur only among those aged 65 or more, it said.

The World Population Prospects 2022, released in July this year said that India’s population stands at 1.412 billion in 2022, compared with China’s 1.426 billion.

India is projected to have a population of 1.668 billion in 2050, ahead of China’s 1.317 billion people by the middle of the century.

According to UNFPA estimates, 68 per cent of India’s population is between 15-64 years old in 2022, while people aged 65 and older were seven per cent of the population.

The report had said that the global population is growing at its slowest rate since 1950, having fallen under 1 per cent in 2020.

The world’s population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050.

China is expected to experience an absolute decline in its population as early as 2023, the report had said.

At the launch of the report in July, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin had said that countries where population growth has slowed must prepare for an increasing proportion of older persons and, in more extreme cases, a decreasing population size.

“China provides a clear example. With the rapid ageing of its population due to the combined effects of very low fertility and increasing life expectancy, growth of China’s total population is slowing down, a trend that is likely to continue in the coming decades,” Liu said.

The WHO pointed out that China has one of the fastest growing ageing populations in the world.

“The population of people over 60 years in China is projected to reach 28 per cent by 2040, due to longer life expectancy and declining fertility rates,” the WHO said.

In China, by 2019, there were 254 million older people aged 60 and over, and 176 million older people aged 65 and over.

In 2022, the two most populous regions were both in Asia: Eastern and South-Eastern Asia with 2.3 billion people (29 per cent of the global population) and Central and Southern Asia with 2.1 billion (26 per cent).

China and India, with more than 1.4 billion each, accounted for most of the population in these two regions.

More than half of the projected increase in the global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in eight countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and the United Republic of Tanzania.

Countries of sub-Saharan Africa are expected to contribute more than half of the increase anticipated through 2050, the report added.

MUMBAI: The new variants of Omicron, XXB and BQ.1, have not led to any significant rise in coronavirus infections and hospitalisations in Maharashtra, experts have said.

The symptoms caused by these strains of the virus are mild, they noted. Dr Anita Mathew, Infectious Disease Specialist at Fortis Hospital, Mulund, said many of the new patients are asymptomatic.

“Many people have incidental covid-19. In other words, they are visiting the hospital for other health conditions and test positive for the coronavirus infection.

Symptoms such as the loss of smell and taste, observed prominently in earlier infections, have not been noticed in many patients.

Many of them report cold and cough, which is why there isn’t a lot of testing or self-isolation, Dr Mathew added.

She, however, stressed that vaccination against coronavirus was still important. “One should be careful so that the risk of infecting others decreases,” she said.

As per the state health department, 17 per cent more covid-19 cases were recorded during October 10 to 16 against the preceding week (October 3-9).

The rise was noticed mainly in Thane, Raigad and Mumbai, all densely-populated districts.

The department had also cautioned that coronavirus cases could rise during winter and the festive season, citing new variants which have greater immune evasive ability.

Dr Vasanthapuram Ravi, Virologist, Head, R&D, TATA Medical and Diagnostics (and Chairman of Karnataka Genomic Surveillance Committee) said the new strain of virus and the disease genotype were no different from Omicron in terms of severity and asymptomatic status.

“It is a hybrid of two Omicron variants, 3.75 and BJ1, due to which it has a novel mutation in the spike proteins which makes it escape the antibodies generated by vaccines.This is why it is causing infections even in vaccinated people,” he said.

But there is not much to worry due to its lessened severity though testing is still important, he added.

If a patient tests positive for Omicron, he or she can get treatment for Omicron infection, Dr Ravi said.

But if the test is negative for Omicron (despite symptoms) then one needs to immediately consult a physician in case there is a presence of a new variant or another virus like flu virus or RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), he added.

The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), in a statement, said it was keeping a close watch on the emergence and evolution of XBB and XBB.1 and any new sub-lineages.

But Indian patients infected with Omicron sub-lineage XBB of covid-19 have mild disease, it went on to add.

Dr Laxman Jessani, Consultant, Infectious Diseases at Apollo hospitals in Navi Mumbai, said the chances of hospitalisation and ICU admissions are low as the infections are mostly mild.

He too said that there was no significant rise in cases in the last few weeks.

“High-risk groups and elderly people should avoid going out to prevent getting infected, especially in crowded places,” he said, adding that wearing a mask is a must.

Mumbai :The number of cases of XBB subvariant of Omicron in Maharashtra has reached 36, the health department said on Saturday, adding that in most of these cases patients recovered in home isolation.

The experts on the state government’s COVID-19 Task Force, however, expressed concern about rising cases of `long COVID’ at a recent meeting, it said.

Pune district has reported 21 XBB cases to date, followed by 10 in Thane, two in Nagpur and one each in Akola, Amravati and Raigad.
Two of the XBB patients were in the 11-20 age group, 13 in the 21-40 segment, 14 in the 41-60 category and seven were over 60. The patients comprised 22 males and 14 females.

“Nine of the 36 patients had some symptoms, while others displayed mild symptoms or were asymptomatic. A total of 32 patients recovered in home isolation and the rest four had to be hospitalised as a precautionary measure or due to lack of necessary conditions for home isolation,” the release said.

No “atypical” symptoms were found in any of these 36 patients and none of them required oxygen or ventilatory support, it added.

Barring two of the 36 patients, all had been vaccinated, and five had taken the booster dose as well. Six XBB patients had been diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier.

Against the backdrop of the XBB detections, a meeting of the State COVID-19 Task Force was held on October 24.

“After studying the XBB variant found in Maharashtra, Singapore and elsewhere, (it has been observed that) even if the infections increase, the new variant seems mild and most patients could be treated in home isolation. Minimal number of patients may need hospitalization,” the release said.

However, experts on the task force expressed concerns about ‘long COVID’.

“Incidence of conditions such as diabetes, brain fog and heart diseases seem to be increasing. Therefore, monitoring and follow-up of COVID-recovered patients is necessary,” the release said.

The experts instructed that it would be beneficial to wear masks in hospitals and clinics by health workers and others.

‘Long COVID’ is the term used for mid- and long-term effects that persist after a person recovers from the initial coronavirus infection.

New Delhi, Oct 20: The Delhi government on Thursday issued an order withdrawing the Rs 500 fine for not wearing masks in public places in the national capital.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had in a meeting last month decided to stop levying the penalty after September 30 amid a decline in COVID-19 cases in the national capital.