Amid ongoing pneumonia outbreak in China, Indian government has sounded alert in all states and has asked them to report all cases of serious respiratory illnesses—Influenza-like illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) -- among children and adolescents at the district level. The sample of all the cases will be further sent to advanced regional laboratories to test for the microbe causing the illness.
“This is being done purely as a precautionary measure; so far no red flags have been seen but it is important to step-up the vigil. There is already a surveillance system in place for tracking respiratory illnesses owing to COVID-19, which will be made use of for further surveillance. As has been said before, the risk for India continues to remain low,” a senior central government said, reported HT.
Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry earlier issued an advisory to States and Union Territories urging them to immediately review public health and hospital preparedness measures in view of the emerging public health situation in China. Health Ministry said that currently, the situation is not that alarming adding that it is closely monitoring the situation.
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"In view of the recent reports indicating a surge in respiratory illness in children in northern China in recent weeks, the Union Health Ministry has proactively decided to review the preparedness measures against respiratory illnesses, as a matter of abundant caution. This is noted to be important in view of the ongoing influenza and winter season that results in an increase in respiratory illness cases. The government of India is closely monitoring the situation and indicated that there is no need for any alarm," the ministry said.
Union Health Secretary also wrote a letter to States and UTs advising them to immediately review public health and hospital preparedness measures.
"All States and Union Territories have been advised to implement 'Operational Guidelines for Revised Surveillance Strategy in the context of COVID-19', shared earlier this year, which provides for integrated surveillance of respiratory pathogens presenting as cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI)," Ministry said.
"They have also been asked to ensure that the trends of ILI/SARI should be closely monitored by the district and state surveillance units of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP), particularly of children and adolescents," it added.
Ministry said that information shared by WHO has indicated an increase in respiratory illness in northern parts of China.
"This is predominantly attributed to usual causes like Influenza, Mycoplasma pneumonia, SARS-CoV-2 etc. As per WHO, the release of COVID-19 restrictions coinciding with the onset of the winter season in addition to the cyclical trend of respiratory illnesses such as Mycoplasma pneumonia have led to this surge. While WHO has sought additional information from Chinese authorities, it is assessed that there is no cause for any alarm at the moment," the Health Ministry said.
(With Agency Inputs)