Amid rise in COVID-19 cases in China, former All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-Delhi director Dr. Randeep Guleria, on Wednesday, said coronavirus cases were not rising anywhere in India, but the people should be vigilant.
The former AIIMS-Delhi director, a noted pulmonologist, who played a key role in the country’s COVID-19 management has recently joined the Medanta Hospital. The Medanta Hospital, on Monday, announced the appointment of Dr. Guleria as Chairman- Institute of Internal Medicine and Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, and Director – Medical Education.
“India’s situation is much better as compared to that of China because our vaccination strategy has been very successful,” Dr Guleria said.
He said most of the people in the high-risk group have taken booster doses and natural infection has happened.
“We can see that the cases are not rising anywhere. But we need to be vigilant. Proper surveillance is needed so that if cases rise anywhere we pick it up at the earliest and conduct testing so that it can be seen that no new variant is coming up and not spreading further,”
He further said that viral infections rise in winter and better care needs to be taken.
Dr Guleria said it is important for people, especially high-risk groups, to protect themselves and take booster doses.
On Wednesday, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya chaired a review meeting of top health officials and experts on the Covid situation in the country and directed officials to be alert and strengthen surveillance amid a surge in coronavirus cases globally.
“COVID is not over yet. I have directed all concerned to be alert and strengthen surveillance. We are prepared to manage any situation,” tweeted the Union Health Minister after the meeting. Reports of the sudden rise in Covid cases in China, Japan, the US and Brazil among other countries have surfaced.