Modi Urges Covid Jabs for Kids, Tracking Variants as Cases Rise
India has been among the worst-hit nations globally, added 2,927 new cases Wednesday -- the highest one-day jump since March 13.
(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on states to urgently ramp up Covid-19 inoculation for children and bolster genome sequencing to track newer variants on Wednesday amid concerns of a new virus wave as daily cases touched a six-week high.
“We need to stay alert given the way cases have risen in some states in the last two weeks,” Modi said after meeting chiefs of Indian states on Wednesday. “India has reopened schools after a very long time. Rising cases are a worry for parents and we have also been hearing of children being infected.” He urged states to consider inoculation programs through schools as well as upgrade their heath care infrastructure.
The South Asian nation, which has been among the worst-hit nations globally, added 2,927 new cases Wednesday -- the highest one-day jump since March 13 -- pushing the total official tally past 43 million. Deaths rose marginally, taking the total fatalities to 523,654. India, which has fully vaccinated 85% of its adult population, recently allowed children older than five to receive Covid shots.
Modi’s comments reflect broader public anxiety around the prospect of a new infection wave, given the trauma of a devastating outbreak last summer in which daily cases topped 400,000, overwhelming hospitals and crematoriums. As the deadly delta variant ripped through the crowded nation of almost 1.4 billion people last year, it left citizens pleading for oxygen and other medical resources on social-media platforms.
Modi’s meeting with state chief ministers comes almost a week after capital New Delhi reinstated mask mandates and stepped up surveillance for new Covid variants. Earlier this month, Mumbai detected the highly transmissible XE variant.
While there are no stress signs in the country’s health care system, rising infections risk thwarting the recent return to normalcy as schools, offices and cinemas reopen.
“The filtered daily growth rate of new cases in India stood at 9.5% on 23 April, having risen steadily since turning positive on 13 April,” a Covid-19 India tracker developed by the University of Cambridge said in an April 23 note. But the current surge looks “much more muted than the Omicron wave which took off toward the end of last year,” it said.
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