New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry reviewed national preparedness as the winter influenza season approached. Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare and Chemicals & Fertilizers JP Nadda chaired the meeting, which brought together senior officials and technical experts, including Health Secretary Smt. Punya Salila Srivastava, DGHS Dr. Sunita Sharma, Joint Secretary (Public Health) Smt. Vandana Jain, NCDC Director Prof. (Dr.) Ranjan Das, and specialists from the Disaster Management Cell and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP).
Officials told the Minister that India sees two annual peaks of influenza activity—one during the monsoon months from August to October and the second during January to March. They shared these details at Kartavya Bhawan 1. Nadda recalled the rise in influenza cases in 2014–15 and sought clarity on whether circulating strains have changed over time.
India’s surveillance continues to support winter influenza preparedness
Experts from NCDC and IDSP reported that influenza activity remains low in India and globally. They said the circulating strains match usual trends. The current strains include H3N2, Influenza B (Victoria), and a small proportion of H1N1. Officials also described the functioning of real-time surveillance systems. These include IDSP’s monitoring of Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI), AI-based media scanning for early alerts, and ICMR’s sentinel surveillance for respiratory pathogens. None of these systems point to an unusual increase in cases.
During the briefing, NCDC announced a national two-day “Chintan Shivir on Influenza” scheduled later this month. The programme will bring together ministries, departments, and state governments to review preparedness and discuss future strategies.
JP Nadda appreciated the ongoing efforts and instructed officials to review influenza readiness with all state nodal officers. He directed central government hospitals to ensure full preparedness and asked district hospitals and medical colleges to complete internal reviews within two weeks. He also called for an advisory to be sent to all States and Union Territories and urged health facilities to conduct regular mock drills to maintain systematic readiness.
