Is Covid-19 fourth wave coming to India? Here’s what THIS top ICMR official says

Samiran Panda, ADG, ICMR said that “not every variant is a variant of concern.”

NEW DELHI: Amid growing concerns over a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases, a top ICMR official has said that there is still no need to panic about the possible fourth wave of coronavirus hitting the country soon. “It's wrong to say the 4th wave is coming, we need to examine district-level data. A high number of cases in a few districts can't be considered as a uniform increase in cases across the whole country,” Samiran Panda, ADG, ICMR said, according to ANI.

It's wrong to say 4th wave is coming, we need to examine district-level data. High number of cases in few districts can't be considered as unifrom increase in cases across country. Not every variant is variant of concern: Samiran Panda, ADG, ICMR on slight uptick in Covid cases pic.twitter.com/5uvT7qChIx — ANI (@ANI) June 10, 2022

On a slight uptick in Covid cases, Panda added, “Not every variant is a variant of concern.” The clarification from the top ICMR official came a day after the Centre asked the states and UTs not to lower guard and implement Covid-19 measures, if required, to contain its spread. Observing an upsurge in Coronavirus infection in the past two weeks, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday wrote to all the states and Union Territories to ensure that they bring the COVID-19 pandemic situation "under control".

Expressing his concern over the continuous surge in Covid-19 infections, the health secretary in his letter wrote, "Given the significance of adequate testing in early identification of cases and providing an accurate picture of the level of infection spread, it is required that States/UTs must ensure a high level of testing in all such areas that are reporting new cases/cluster of cases."

"State/UTs must also monitor average daily testing per million as well as the share of RT-PCR in total tests conducted...Stats/UTs must also enhance monitoring of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and SARI cases in all health facilities on a regular basis for detecting early warning signals of the spread of infection," the letter read.

In the letter, he also emphasised the State/UTs to conduct Genome sequencing of prescribed samples of international passengers and said, "Collection of samples from Sentinal Sites (identified health facilities) and the local cluster of new Covid-19 cases is equally important."

He further advised them to continue implementation and monitoring of necessary measures for prompt and effective management of Covid-19 snd to ensure compliance with the advisories issued by the Health Ministry, while following a five-fold strategy of Test-Track-Treat-Vaccine and Covid Appropriate Behavior diligently.

India on Friday reported 7,584 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours, an increase against the 7,240 infections registered the previous day, the Union Health Ministry said. Also in the same period, there were 24 new Covid fatalities which increased the nationwide death toll to 5,24,747.

Meanwhile, the active caseload also rose to 36,267 cases, accounting for 0.08 per cent of the country`s total positive cases. The recovery of 3,791 patients in the last 24 hours took the cumulative tally to 4,26,44,092. Consequently, India`s recovery rate stands at 98.70 per cent.