Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya cautions people not to panic

NEW DELHI: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday asked the public not to panic about COVID-19, but be alert and follow the directives issued by the government from time to time.

He further said Covid-19 variants will keep coming but the important thing is which variant will react and people should only believe information shared by government sources to avoid any kind of panic in the country. The Health Minister said that the government is alert and making all preparations. Meanwhile, in India eleven types of COVID-19 Omicron Sub-variants were detected during testing of international passengers at airports and seaports between December 24 to January 3, official sources have said.

A total of 19,227 samples of international travellers were tested, out of which 124 were found positive and were isolated, the sources said.

"Of the 124 positive samples, genome sequencing results of 40 were received of which XBB including XBB.1 was found in the maximum 14 samples. BF 7.4.1 has been found in one sample," as per official sources.

The other variants that are reported after samples from these international travellers are BA.5.2, BQ.1.1, BQ. 1.1(22), BQ.1.1.5, CH.1.1, CH.1.1.1, BB.3, BN.1.2, BN1.3, BY1 and BF.

The sources further said that these all variants are already present in the country.

India saw a slight increase in COVID infections on Thursday as it witnessed 188 new cases in the last 24 hours according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).The country recorded 175 new cases on Wednesday. (ANI)

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