NATIONAL : Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting to review the COVID-19 situation in India and the preparedness of the public health system for surveillance, containment, and management of COVID-19 given the recent spike in cases of COVID-19 in some states.

Union Health Minister noted the importance of being prepared and remaining alert against new and emerging strains of COVID-19, especially given the upcoming festive season.

Underlying and reiterating that COVID is not over yet, he requested states to monitor emerging evidence of COVID-19 cases, symptoms, and case severity to plan appropriate public health response.

The Union Health Minister urged all the states to remain alert, increase surveillance, and ensure adequate stock of medicines, oxygen cylinders, concentrators, ventilators, and vaccines. He asked officials to undertake mock drills every three months at both the Central and State levels to assess the functionality of PSA plants, Oxygen concentrators, cylinders, ventilators, etc. and encouraged sharing of best practices.

On the new JN.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2, it was informed that the variant is currently under intense scientific scrutiny, but not a cause of immediate concern. No clustering of cases has been observed in India due to JN.1 and all the cases were found to be mild, and all of them have recovered without any complications.