Covid spike in Asian and European countries, Centre says be alert, be prepared

Amid a rise in Covid cases in some European and East Asian countries, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday directed officials to maintain a high level of alertness and surveillance, and carry out genomic sequencing aggressively.

At a high-level meeting, chaired by the minister, the government's decision of resuming scheduled international flights from March 27, the vaccination situation and the level of genomic surveillance were reviewed.

India reported 2,539 fresh Covid-19 cases and 60 deaths in 24 hours on Thursday morning.

China has been witnessing the worst outbreak of Covid-19 in the last two years forcing the country to place millions under lockdown in desperate attempts to curb the surge. The situation has also deteriorated in Hong Kong.

Also watch: 'Stealth omicron' triggers China's biggest Covid-19 outbreak in 2 years

While Delta and Omicron continued to dominate the Asian wave of Covid-19, a new concerning variant – BA.2 – is setting the stage for a revival of pandemic risks in Europe. Considered an even faster transmissible strain than the Omicron variant, the virus has rapidly spread in Germany and Austria.