India fully prepared to deal with coronavirus situation: Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia

 The country is fully prepared to deal with the coronavirus situation, Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday.

In the wake of rising coronavirus infections in China and some other countries, the government is taking various measures, including random testing of arriving international passengers, to curb possible spread of infections.

Scindia, who is in charge of the ministries of civil aviation and steel, said the country is fully prepared to deal with the coronavirus situation.

Scindia, who is in charge of the ministries of civil aviation and steel, said the country is fully prepared to deal with the coronavirus situation.

Meanwhile, India logged 163 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases declined to 3,380, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

Centre has issued ‘Guidelines for International Arrivals’ owing to the sudden rise in COVID cases in China, the US and some other countries. The new guidelines will come into effect from tomorrow i.e. 24 December.

On Thursday, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya made a statement in Parliament and said India has started two per cent random sampling of international travellers coming to the country and may consider making it mandatory for all if necessary.

Allaying fears about BF.7 variant of coronavirus, a prominent scientist said that India need not worry too much about its severity on the population. Speaking to PTI, Rakesh Mishra, Director, Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (TIGS), Bangalore, however cautioned that wearing face masks and avoiding unnecessary crowds is always advisable. The former director of CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology further said China has been witnessing an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases as the neighbouring country has not passed through different waves of the infection that India had faced. “This is a sub-variant of Omicron. Main features will be like Omicron except some small changes, there is no big difference. Most of us have gone through the Omicron wave. So, we don’t have to worry about it. Essentially, it is the same virus,” he said.