India on alert for new variants of Covid after increase in cases in China: “Wear masks”

what’s going on in Chinawhere a powerful nod covid after the government’s farewell to its zero-tolerance strategy towards the virus, it is also sending the rest of the world into a panic. already yesterday WHO he had warned of the risks that the situation in Beijing could pose globally.

And soon after came the words of the Indian Minister of Health, Mansukh Mandaviya, which he advised his fellow citizens to take precautions against Covid-19, including vaccine booster and use masksas the country remains in alert for new potentials variants that could come after the wave of new infections that is sweeping neighboring China.

Speaking to Parliament, Mandaviya specified that India will start randomly testing 2% of international travelers arriving at airports in the country, after asking regional authorities to send samples of positive tests to monitoring laboratories i new strains of Sars-Cov-2. “We urge individual states to raise awareness of the need to use masks, hand sanitizers, maintain respiratory hygiene and social distancing,” Mandaviya said, encouraging Indians to get vaccinated.

The country eased anti-Covid measures earlier this year after a decline in infections and deaths. According to data from the ministry, today in the country there are officially about 3,400 cases of positivity to Covid, but the virus is very widespread, albeit mildly, so much so that the period of forty for positives it was reduced to five days from the first positive test. But now the minister warns: “The pandemic not over yet. I have ordered all authorities to stay alert and step up vigilance.”

What is worrying, as we have seen, is the situation in China, where an emphasis on the variant omicron BA.5, known as BA.5.2.1.7 (Bf.7 for short), is contributing to a significant increase in infections. Projections suggest that the Land of the Dragon could face more than a million deaths in 2023 after the abrupt change of course due to the abandonment of the Zero Covid policy, following the unprecedented mass protests in the last 30 years that took place in recent weeks.

The alarm was given in recent days by the Use, fearing that the Covid outbreak in China could result in new mutations of the virus. According to a spokesperson for the US Department of State, Ned Price, “We know that every time the coronavirus spreads, it can mutate and present a threat🇧🇷