Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya chaired a meeting in view of the current situation due to the new sub-variants of Omicron and to review the COVID-19 situation and the ongoing vaccination drive in the country.
NITI Aayog member (health) VK Paul, chairman of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) NK Arora, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and other senior health officials attended the meeting, ANI reported, citing official sources.
The meeting comes amid growing concern over Omicron’s new sub-variants BA.5.1.7, BF.7 and BQ.1.
As per reports, Gujarat recently reported the first case of BF.7 sub-variant of Omicron, which was first detected in China and now reached the United States, the UK, Australia, and Belgium.
The first case of BF.7 was reportedly detected by the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre.
Pune has also reported its first case of Omicron sub-variant BQ.1, a descendant of BA.5. The Maharashtra health department on Monday cautioned that the COVID-19 cases could rise especially during winters and the festive season.
Department of Biotechnology Secretary Rajesh S Gokhale and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Rajiv Bahl were also present at the meeting.
Meanwhile, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) is planning to issue a bulletin on the new sub-variants of Omicron
The Health Ministry has decided not to buy more COVID vaccines as of now and has surrendered Rs 4,237 crore, or nearly 85 per cent of the 2022-23 budget allocation for inoculation purposes, to the Finance Ministry, PTI reported.
The governments at the Centre and in states have around 1.8 crore doses of COVID vaccines and the stock is enough to continue the vaccination drive for around six months, owing to decline in COVID cases and low uptake of vaccines among people, according to official sources.
