COVID BF.7 variant: RT-PCR test mandatory for flyers coming from China, 5 other countries from Jan 1

The South African Ministry of Health has announced reduced requirements for COVID-19 vaccination reporting, even as experts cautioned against complacency amid a surge in infections in China that has sparked concerns across the globe. “Whilst the Department remains committed to provide accurate and timely information on the Vaccination Programme, daily reporting is no longer required. The Department will therefore publish vaccination data on a weekly basis,” the Health Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Maharashtra today reported 27 new coronavirus infections which took the tally of cases in the state to 81,36,615, the health department said in a release. With one death being reported since the previous evening, the death toll due to the pandemic rose to 1,48,417. Maharashtra had reported 26 new COVID-19 cases and one death on Wednesday. A resident of Navi Mumbai, who arrived by an international flight at the Mumbai airport, tested positive and his swab sample has been sent for genome sequencing, the release said.

Amid growing concern over a surge in COVID-19 cases in some countries, including in India, the New Delhi Municipal Council has leapt into action by organising mock drills, holding preparatory meetings and educating people on the pandemic. NDMC vice-chairman Satish Upadhyay conducted an inspection of the services at a hospital on Tuesday. The New Delhi civic body also called a joint meeting with health officials to verify the Covid arrangements at Charak Palika Hospital in Moti Bagh on the same day.
Sharing details about coronavirus preparedness, NDMC Chairman Amit Yadav said the civic body started working soon after the Centre issued an advisory on COVID-19. "With the COVID-19 advisory from the government, we have already begun working. We are holding inspections in hospitals. We are conducting mock drills and conducting preparatory meetings. We are taking stock of medicine availability," Yadav said.

Moves by several countries to mandate COVID-19 tests for passengers arriving from China reflect global concern that new variants could emerge in its ongoing explosive outbreak — and that the government may not inform the rest of the world quickly enough. There have been no reports of new variants to date, but China has been accused of not being forthcoming about the virus since it first surfaced in the country in late 2019. The worry is that it may not be sharing data now on any signs of evolving strains that could spark fresh outbreaks elsewhere. The US, Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Italy have announced testing requirements for passengers from China. The US cited both the surge in infections and what it said was a lack of information, including genomic sequencing of the virus strains in the country. Authorities in Taiwan and Japan have expressed a similar concern.

In an attempt to curb the surge in Covid cases, the Centre on Thursday announced that the RT-PCR test would be made mandatory for flyers coming from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand from January 1, 2023. The flyers will also have to upload their reports on the Air Suvidha portal before travel.

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The government has started close monitoring of exports of products used to deal with Covid infections such as PPE kits, masks, ventilators and certain medicines like paracetamol on account of rising infections in various countries, including China, an official said. The move is aimed at dealing with any possible emergency situation on account of a spurt in coronavirus cases. "We are keeping a close watch on exports of all these products. We are monitoring the situation to take appropriate decisions, though the situation at present is not alarming. We should be prepared for everything and for that our domestic requirement should be ready,” the official said.

A businessman from nearby Salem who arrived here from China via Singapore has tested positive for Covid-19, official sources said on Thursday. The 37-year old man, who arrived in the city by a connecting flight on Wednesday, tested positive at the airport, the sources said. "The man, a textile businessman hailing from Ilampillai near Salem, is asymptomatic and under follow-up of health authorities," they said. He is under surveillance of the health authorities and quarantined, they added.

The US announced new COVID-19 testing requirements Wednesday for all travellers from China, joining other nations imposing restrictions because of a surge of infections. The increase in cases across China follows the rollback of the nation's strict anti-virus controls. China's "zero COVID" policies had kept the country's infection rate low but fueled public frustration and crushed economic growth.

Moves by the US, Japan and others to mandate COVID-19 tests for passengers arriving from China reflect global concern that new variants could emerge in its ongoing explosive outbreak — and the government may not inform the rest of the world quickly enough. There have been no reports of new variants to date. But given the country's track record, the worry is that China may not be sharing data on any signs of evolving strains that could spark fresh outbreaks elsewhere. The US, in announcing a negative test requirement on Wednesday for passengers from China, cited both the surge in infections and what it said was a lack of information, including the genomic sequencing of the virus strains in the country.

India recorded 268 new cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours. According to the data shared by the Union Health Ministry today (December 29), the total recovery rate reached at around 98.80 per cent and total recoveries data reached to 4,41,43,665.

Three new cases of coronavirus have been detected in Maharashtra's Thane district, taking its infection tally to 7,47,397, a health official said on Thursday. The latest infections were reported on Wednesday, he said. There are currently 11 active COVID-19 cases in the district, which comes under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, he said. The death toll in the district stood at 11,969 and the recovery count at 7,36,180, he added.

Amid a massive surge of Coronavirus in China, nearly half of the passengers who were travelling from Beijing to Milan tested positive for the lethal virus on Monday. According to a report by Bloomberg, the two flights of sick passengers arrived at Malpensa Airport from China on Monday and added the country has announced mandatory testing for passengers coming from the East Asian country.

Out of the total 2,82,229 oxygen supported-Covid beds, 2,45,894 are operational, they said. Besides, of the 70,073 ICU beds and 57,286 ICU-cum-ventilator beds, 64,711 and 49,236 are functional, respectively.

Mock drill: According to officials, 20,021 facilities, including 15,424 government ones conducted the exercise across 37 states and UTs.Of the total 3,37,710 isolation beds across these facilities, 2,79,202 are functional.

Over 11,000 oxygen plants are functional and nearly 2. 8 lakh isolation beds are available in over 20,000 health facilities across the country where mock drills were conducted on Tuesday to check the operational readiness to deal with Covid amid a surge in cases in some countries, officials said.