“A robust system for surveillance of respiratory viral illnesses, including Covid-19, also exists in the country through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) and ICMR,” they said.
The review meeting, which was convened under the chairpersonship of the Director General of Health Services (DGHS), was attended by experts from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Emergency Medical Relief (EMR) division, Disaster Management Cell, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and central government hospitals.
Officials said that, according to preliminary information, the cases reported in Singapore and Hong Kong “are mostly mild, not associated with unusual severity or mortality.”
The surge in cases in Asian countries created concern, as it came more than five years after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.
The WHO declared an end to COVID-19, which wreaked global havoc, in May 2023, more than three years after the virus was first detected in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. However, the world health body urged governments to maintain virus surveillance and sequencing and ensure access to affordable and reliable tests, treatments and vaccines.