NEW DELHI: India is observing a rise in coronavirus disease cases, with the number of new infections crossing 6,155 on Saturday, prompting authorities to step up surveillance measures to prevent the situation from getting out of control.
The World Health Organization has identified XBB.1.16, an omicron sub-variant, as fueling the infection surge in India. Known as Arcturus, XBB.1.16 has high infectivity and pathogenicity and has been listed as a WHO variant under monitoring since late March.
On Friday, the number of reported daily cases in India crossed 6,000 for first time in over 200 days, prompting Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to advise sates to be on alert, ramp up testing and vaccinations, and start reviewing their preparedness from Saturday.
“States need to continue working in (a) collaborative spirit as was done during the previous surges for COVID-19 prevention and management,” he said, as quoted in a statement issued by the Ministry of Health after a meeting with regional health chiefs.
The minister also “urged the state health ministers to conduct mock drills of all hospital infrastructure on April 10 and 11, 2023, and review the health preparedness with district administrations and health officials on April 8 and 9, 2023.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated India, especially during the second viral wave between March and May 2021, when its hospitals run out of staff, beds and oxygen to treat the sick. People with empty oxygen cylinders were seen lining up outside refilling facilities, hoping to save relatives in critical care in hospital.
Many people were forced to turn to makeshift facilities for mass burials and cremations as funeral services could not deal with the unprecedented number of bodies.
It remains unclear how many people died during that period. Indian authorities put the death toll for January 2020 to December 2021 at about 480,000, but WHO estimates show that 4.7 million people have died in India as a result of the pandemic.
In the wake of the new infection surge, medical experts agreed that increased vigilance and precautionary measures should be put back in place.
“I suppose whenever it goes beyond 5 percent positivity rate then this advisory kicks it ... the government is right,” Dr. Dorairaj Prabhakaran, an epidemiologist at the Public Health Foundation of India, told Arab News.
Some say that besides increasing testing and vaccination, it is high time that an action plan was put in place.
“What is the intervention? We know from the WHO that wearing (masks) and maintaining social distance is not having that kind of impact. It is all right to say test more (but) is that enough? What kind of preparedness does the government plan to undertake,” asked Prof. Rama V. Baru from the Center of Social Medicine and Community Health at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
“We know we are under-testing and there is a rise in the reported cases — which means is it another variant? It should be.”
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New COVID surge forces India to ramp up testing, surveillance
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New COVID surge forces India to ramp up testing, surveillance
- WHO identifies a new omicron sub-variant fueling India’s infection surge
- States to conduct mock drills of all hospital infrastructure from Monday
Japan reaffirms no-nukes pledge after senior official suggests acquiring weapons
- The unnamed official said Japan needed nuclear weapons because of a worsening security environment
- At a regular press briefing in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Japan’s nuclear policy had not changed
TOKYO: Japan reaffirmed its decades-old pledge never to possess nuclear weapons on Friday after local media reported that a senior security official suggested the country should acquire them to deter potential aggressors. The unnamed official said Japan needed nuclear weapons because of a worsening security environment but acknowledged that such a move would be politically difficult, public broadcaster NHK and other outlets reported, describing the official as being from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s office.
At a regular press briefing in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Japan’s nuclear policy had not changed, but declined to comment on the remarks or to say whether the person would remain in government. There is a growing political and public willingness in Japan to loosen its three non-nuclear principles not to possess, develop or allow nuclear weapons, a Reuters investigation published in August found.
This is driven in part by doubts over the reliability of US security guarantees under President Donald Trump and growing threats from nuclear-armed China, Russia and North Korea.
Japan hosts the largest overseas concentration of US military forces and has maintained a security alliance with Washington for decades.
Some lawmakers within Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party have said the United States should be allowed to bring nuclear weapons into Japan on submarines or other platforms to reinforce deterrence. Takaichi last month stirred debate on her own stance by declining to say whether there would be any changes to the three principles when her administration formulates a new defense strategy next year.
“Putting these trial balloons out creates an opportunity to start to build consensus around the direction to move on changes in security policy,” said Stephen Nagy, professor at the department of politics and international studies at the International Christian University in Tokyo.
Beijing’s assertiveness and growing missile cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang are “creating the momentum to really change Japan’s thinking about security,” he added.
Discussions about acquiring or hosting nuclear weapons are highly sensitive in the only country to have suffered atomic bombings, and risk unsettling neighboring countries, including China.
Ties between Tokyo and Beijing worsened last month after Takaichi said a Chinese attack on Taiwan that also threatened Japan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” and trigger a military response.
At a regular press briefing in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Japan’s nuclear policy had not changed, but declined to comment on the remarks or to say whether the person would remain in government. There is a growing political and public willingness in Japan to loosen its three non-nuclear principles not to possess, develop or allow nuclear weapons, a Reuters investigation published in August found.
This is driven in part by doubts over the reliability of US security guarantees under President Donald Trump and growing threats from nuclear-armed China, Russia and North Korea.
Japan hosts the largest overseas concentration of US military forces and has maintained a security alliance with Washington for decades.
Some lawmakers within Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party have said the United States should be allowed to bring nuclear weapons into Japan on submarines or other platforms to reinforce deterrence. Takaichi last month stirred debate on her own stance by declining to say whether there would be any changes to the three principles when her administration formulates a new defense strategy next year.
“Putting these trial balloons out creates an opportunity to start to build consensus around the direction to move on changes in security policy,” said Stephen Nagy, professor at the department of politics and international studies at the International Christian University in Tokyo.
Beijing’s assertiveness and growing missile cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang are “creating the momentum to really change Japan’s thinking about security,” he added.
Discussions about acquiring or hosting nuclear weapons are highly sensitive in the only country to have suffered atomic bombings, and risk unsettling neighboring countries, including China.
Ties between Tokyo and Beijing worsened last month after Takaichi said a Chinese attack on Taiwan that also threatened Japan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” and trigger a military response.
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