Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal Calls Emergency Meeting On Covid On Thursday

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will convene an emergency meeting on Thursday amid a sudden spurt in Covid cases in several countries, officials said.

The Delhi government is keeping a watch on the COVID-19 situation and the chief minister has directed the health department to ensure genome sequencing of samples and take other steps needed to meet any eventuality, they said.

"Delhi government is alert. CM Kejriwal has called an emergency meeting regarding coronavirus tomorrow," an official said on Wednesday.

Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in Japan, South Korea, Brazil, China and the US, the central government had on Tuesday urged all states and Union territories to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive samples to keep track of emerging variants.

In a letter to the states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had said such an exercise will enable timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country and will facilitate undertaking of requisite public health measures.

Public health challenge of COVID-19 still persists around the world with around 35 lakh cases reported weekly.