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China Covid scare: PM Modi leads the way, wears face mask in Parliament
On Wednesday, the central government advised people to get vaccinated and mask up.
Prime minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha chair Jagdeep Dhankhar all wore face masks in Parliament Thursday to underline the importance of following Covid protocols amid concern over the surge in cases in China. Lawmakers from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and others, like the Aam Aadmi Party's Raghav Chadha, also wore face masks as the leaders of the two Houses appealed to all MPs to follow suit.
As proceedings began, the Lok Sabha speaker advised parliamentarians to wear a mask and spread awareness about Covid-appropriate behaviour.
"We should be vigilant keeping in mind the past trends of the pandemic," he was quoted news agency PTI, adding masks were available for MPs at the gates.
However, the fact that not all MPs wore masks - it has not been mandatory as yet - prompted a political swipe from union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi, who told reporter: "Both chairs in Parliament have requested members to wear face masks during proceedings... but opposition leaders didn't... shows their attitude towards Covid guidelines."
READ | Three reasons India will not see a Covid-wave like China’s
Modi is scheduled to hold a high-level review meeting this afternoon, a day after union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a meeting of his own.
Mandaviya later said the government is ready to deal with any situation and urged people to get vaccinated and follow basic protocol - wear masks, sanitise hands and maintain social distance.
The health minister addressed the Lok Sabha at 2 pm Thursday and said the government is aware of the dangers posed by the new BF.7 subvariant of the infectious Omicron variant - four cases have already been reported in India - and is taking steps, including re-instituting random checks of foreign arrivals.
READ | Govt advises caution, masks; says don’t panic over Covid
The health minister - who also addressed the Rajya Sabha - said: "We are keeping an eye on the global Covid situation and are taking steps accordingly... states are advised to increase genome-sequencing to timely identify the new variant..." he said.
Former union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan told reporters 'masks are effective for Covid' (and also help protect against polluted air) and urged people to take necessary precautions.
India has confirmed four cases of the BF.7 subvariant that is believed to be driving the surge in cases in China, where data suggests over a million new cases daily could be emerging.
READ | China Covid surge: 1 million cases daily now, 4.2 million by March
With input from agencies
