Dr NK Arora, Chairman, COVID working group

Photo : ANI

New Delhi: There is no need to panic over the Covid-19 situation in the country but need to keep a close watch on foreign countries, said National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) chairperson Dr NK Arora. He also confirmed that authorities in India have stepped up genomic surveillance and started airport screening.

While speaking to media, Covid working group chairman Dr NK Arora stressed that the virus is very much here but it is not intensely circulating in the country. “We have stepped up our genomic surveillance and started airport screening. Whatever we have found is not that we are getting any new variants,” he added.

“The Covid variants are not been able to gain a foothold or cause hospitalisation. There is no need to panic but we need to keep a very close watch on European, North American and East Asian countries,” suggested the Covid working group chairman.

Last week, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya asked the public not to panic amid the ongoing global Covid surge but be alert and follow the guidelines issued by the Centre.

He added that while Covid would keep mutating and more strains or variants will come to the fore, the citizens shouldn’t be needlessly alarmed and only believe in the information shared by government sources to avoid panic.