States to conduct mock drills next week to review Covid preparedness

Specific focus on oxygen plants, ventilators, logistics and human resources; aim is to check whether the equipment is in running condition, or needs refurbishment

Stepping up vigil, states in India will now undertake mock-drills across health units next week to ensure the operational readiness of Covid-19 dedicated facilities, with specific focus on oxygen plants, ventilators, logistics and human resources. The idea is to check whether the equipment is in running condition, or needs refurbishment.

Sanjay Khandare, Maharashtra health secretary, said the mock drill will only be conducted in government units.

India is reporting 153 daily fresh cases on average, and there is no concern at present about the pressure on healthcare infrastructure, even as researchers predict that neighbouring China’s deaths could touch millions.

The Union Health Ministry has advised states to review their readiness through such mock drills, and enhance surveillance across states.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a review meeting on Friday with state health ministers to take stock of the situation.

A well-defined surveillance strategy has been worked out consisting of health facility-based sentinel Surveillance; pan-respiratory virus surveillance; community-based surveillance and sewage or waste-water surveillance.

These initiatives have been in motion for a while now. A Health ministry official noted that BF.7, an Omicron sub-lineage that is said to be behind the recent spike in cases across the world, was first detected in India around July. “Surveillance showed there was no abnormal spike in cases around the area where this variant was detected,” the official said.

Besides this, the Union Health Ministry has asked states to ramp up testing, encourage booster dose uptake, ramp up whole genome sequencing, among other things.

Consistent decline in cases in India

Amid a fresh global surge in Covid-19 cases, the Union Health Ministry on Friday said that the positivity rate is declining week on week, from 1.05 per cent in the week ended October 13 to 0.14 per cent in December 16-22. Eight states and four union territories in India have zero reported active cases. In fact, India now has a 0.03 per cent share of global cases. From 2,408 average daily fresh cases between October 7-13, India’s average daily cases now stand at 153 only. (see charts).

Fourth vaccine shot not required: experts

Chairman of India's Covid-19 working group of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), N K Arora, told Business Standard that a fourth shot as a precaution dose is not required. Those above 60 should take their precautionary doses (a third shot after the 2-dose primary regimen). However, Arora felt that there was no need for a second booster.

Some doctors, however, feel that if the last dose taken by an individual was more than a year ago, people should now go for another one now. “Every six months, we advise patients to take a booster dosage. Every six months, I personally take a booster dosage since new infections might arise with new variants,” said Dr Arunesh Kumar, HOD Department of Pulmonology & Respiratory Medicine, Paras Hospitals, Gurugram.

Arora, however, clarified, “There is no need for a second booster dose. Even if it is one year after the last dose, it's okay. People have hybrid immunity – 97 per cent of the population has been covered by primary vaccination, and around 90-95 per cent has had the infection,” he added.

Do Indian vaccines offer better protection than Chinese ones?

While some media reports have highlighted that weak efficacy of the Chinese vaccines is behind the recent surge, experts like Gagandeep Kang, microbiologist with CMC, Vellore said that while the Sinopharm vaccine has been used mainly in China, but there is good data from similar vaccines (Sinovac/Coronavc) from Latin America.

In a tweet, Kang noted that most of China has received 2 doses of inactivated vaccines with low levels of boosting. “The Chinese inactivated vaccines work well to prevent severe disease/death, but somewhat less well than the mRNA/vectored vaccines. A booster with these will help, but other platforms are likely to be better,” she said. India has used vectored vaccines – AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine manufactured and sold by Serum Institute of India.

Bharat Biotech’s nasal vaccine to be now available in private hospitals

While Bharat Biotech’s nasal Covid19 vaccine got an approval to be used as a mix and match or heterologous booster after two shots of Covishield or Covaxin in November, the vaccine was not widely available. It will now be listed on Co-WIN and will be available in private hospitals across the country.

With inputs from Ruchika Chitravanshi