Even as the COVID-19 caseload rose to an eight-month high in the last few days, Ajay Kumar Sood, the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Union government, said the situation was under control and India will see "small waves" of coronavirus cases.
“COVID is not totally out of the scene, these small waves will continue to happen. Our government has got the situation in complete control,” he told Moneycontrol.
Highlighting Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya’s meeting with state government officials and the mock drills, Sood said, “Looking at the level of preparedness, we can say that there is no reason to worry”.
“The small waves will keep coming, we can’t comment on the exact date when the cases will start declining but we shouldn’t be worried about it,” he added.
After reporting over 10,000 fresh cases for four consecutive days, India today recorded a dip in the daily Covid-19 caseload.
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According to the Union Health Ministry data, 9,111 COVID-19 cases and 27 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
Commenting on XBB and sub-variants leading the surge in cases in India, Sood said vigilance has to be maintained for the newer variants.
“The mutations in the virus have been happening and will keep happening. We need to be vigilant, keep sequencing the samples and assess the efficacy of the vaccine on the virus,” he added.
Sood also said that the patients suffering from influenza in India did not have a high rate of hospitalisation.
Animal Pandemic Preparedness Initiative
The Principal Scientific Advisor said learning the lessons from COVID-19, India has launched Animal Pandemic Preparedness Initiatives (APPI) to enhance the preparedness and response to potential animal pandemics.
“You will not be able to stop a pandemic by design. Pandemics will keep on happening as long as humanity exists. We have to be fully prepared and one up. That's the mission, and that is why we have launched this initiative,” he added.
Sood said by surveying and strengthening the animal health systems, the government could pre-meditate on a COVID-like pandemic beforehand if they have information available on the virus’s presence in the environment.
“We will get to know about the health status of animals and livestock; if there is any disease that is spreading in one part of the country, it would be known to us because of the surveillance network,” he added.
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