Another Coronavirus Wave to Hit India? Next 40 Days Crucial: Report

New Delhi: As China continues to see a spike in Covid infections and deaths due to the BF.7 variant, the next 40 days will be crucial for India, news agency PTI reported on Wednesday citing official sources. The Union Health Ministry said the country may see a surge in Covid-19 cases in January 2023.  

“Previously, it has been noticed that a new wave of coronavirus hits India around 30-35 days after it hits East Asia... This has been a trend,” PTI quoted an official as saying. 

According to the Health Ministry sources, the severity of the infection will be less and if there is a wave, deaths and hospitalisation is expected to be very low. 

Earlier, the Centre had issued an advisory to the State governments to strengthen their surveillance and also conducted a nation-wide drill to assess the preparedness of hospitals to deal with the Covid cases. The Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said that the country is prepared to face any eventuality. 

Now the government has sounded an alert, the Centre may bring in the mandatory negative 72-hour prior RT-PCR reports and filling up of ‘air suvidha’ forms for passengers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore next week. Meanwhile, two percent of sample passengers arriving in each international flight have been subjected to mandatory random COVID-19 testing by the authorities. As of now, 39 passengers were tested positive for the Coronavirus at several Indian airports. 

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