New Delhi: After a new, highly contagious strain of the coronavirus was discovered in the nation, Indian health officials urged the populace and local authorities to resume wearing face masks and step up surveillance.

The omicron subvariant of the coronavirus that is causing the current wave of cases in China was found in at least four of the 145 coronavirus infections reported in the last 24 hours.

The World Health Organization reports that infection rates have increased recently in other countries, including Japan, South Korea, and the US. China saw a spike in infections after loosening its strict COVID-19 restrictions.

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The Indian Medical Association warns and exhorts the public to adopt COVID-appropriate behaviour with immediate effect in light of the sudden increase in COVID cases in various nations, the country's top medical body said on Thursday.

Additionally, it urged the populace to "overcome the impending COVID outbreak" by resuming coronavirus protocols, like the wearing of masks and social seclusion — actions that have not been required in most regions of the nation for a while.

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Mansukh Mandaviya, the Indian Health Minister, spoke to the parliament on Thursday to discuss the steps the national government had taken to address the issue, including keeping an eye out for emerging coronavirus variants.

The states are urged to boost neighbourhood watch programmes and combat COVID. States have been urged to sequence every positive case's genome. This will make it easier to spot the new variant and take decisive action to combat it, he said.

Despite the warning, health professionals told Arab News that it was unlikely that the situation from last year would repeat itself, when the highly transmissible delta variant infected hundreds of thousands of people every day and claimed more than 450,000 lives between March and May.

The new version "might" have an impact. It won't be too bad, but we still need to exercise caution. Although there isn't a life-threatening situation at the moment, we must still exercise caution. Dr. Jayesh Lele, secretary general of the IMA

The warning has been released to raise awareness among the populace.

Prof. Rama V. Baru from Jawaharlal Nehru University's Center of Social Medicine and Community Health concurred.

"I'd say it's important to proceed with caution. It's crucial to realise that there might be another wave, the speaker continued.

She went on to say that the alert might also be a "political handle" to divert attention away from other problems.

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The economic crisis, the opposition's "Unify India" campaign, and the loss of face for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as a result of recent disappointing results in the regional elections are just a few of the very serious real issues facing the nation today, according to Baru.

Politically, COVID has been a very good handle.

According to Prof. T. Jacob John of the Indian Academy of Sciences, there are still very few cases in India and no signs that things are getting worse.

I'm not sure why the government decided to issue the advisory, he remarked. "As an epidemiologist, I am unconcerned, but it is a good idea to wear a mask. Observe caution.