Fear of contracting covid-19 leaves the streets of Beijing empty 3:15
New Delhi (CNN) --
India's health minister has advised people to take precautions against covid-19, including getting vaccinated and wearing masks, as the country remains on alert for possible new variants that may arise from the virus. wave of infections hitting neighboring China.
Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed Parliament on Thursday that India would start randomly testing 2% of international travelers arriving at the country's airports, after he asked regional authorities to send positive samples to airports. Laboratories that monitor the appearance of new variants of the covid.
"States have been told to make people aware of (the need to) wear masks, use hand sanitizers, maintain respiratory hygiene and distancing," Mandaviya said, urging Indians to get vaccinations or boosters. against covid.
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In his speech this Wednesday at a meeting to examine the situation of the covid in the country, amid the increase in cases in several Asian nations, Mandaviya said: "The covid is not over yet. I ordered all those involved to be alert and reinforce surveillance".
India, a country of 1.3 billion people, relaxed its covid restrictions earlier this year after a drop in infections, and people have stopped wearing masks mostly outdoors.
The minister's warnings come as China braces for infections to spread from its big cities to its vast rural areas, following its hasty and unprepared exit from the "zero covid" strategy earlier this month.
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A health worker administers a booster dose of the Covid vaccine in New Delhi.
Naveen Sharma/SOPA/Sipa/AP
On Wednesday, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, expressed concern about the increase in cases in China, stressing that he was concerned about "increasing reports of serious illness."
"To make a comprehensive assessment of the situation on the ground, WHO needs more detailed information on disease severity, hospital admissions and ICU support needs," Tedros told a news conference.
According to a study published last week, the surge could cause close to a million deaths in China, in addition to overburdening the country's local health systems.
China could register almost a million deaths by abandoning the zero covid strategy, according to a study
Meanwhile, Chinese experts have warned that the worst may be yet to come.
Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said last week that China is being hit by the first of three waves of infections expected this winter.
Last year, India was devastated by a second wave of covid-19, which killed tens of thousands of people and overwhelmed the country's healthcare system.
Since then, India has administered more than 2 billion covid vaccines and almost 75% of its population has received at least one dose, according to data from Johns' Hopkins University.
According to the Ministry of Health, India had registered a "steady decline" in cases, with an average of about 150 infections per day across the country as of December 19.
"We are ready to handle any situation," Health Minister Mandaviya said in a Twitter message on Wednesday.
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