Asia
US says Russia closer to invading Ukraine, agrees to meeting
Russia on Sunday rescinded earlier pledges to pull tens of thousands of its troops back from Ukraine’s northern border, a move that U.S. leaders said put Russia another step closer to what they said was the planned invasion of Ukraine. Residents of Ukraine’s capital filled a gold-domed cathedral to pray for peace.
Russia’s action extends what it said were military exercises, originally set to end Sunday, that brought an estimated 30,000 Russian forces to Belarus, Ukraine’s neighbor to the north. They are among at least 150,000 Russian troops now deployed outside Ukraine’s borders, along with tanks, warplanes, artillery and other war materiel.
The continued deployment of the Russian forces in Belarus raised concern that Russia could send those troops to sweep down on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, a city of about 3 million people less than a three-hour drive away.
In what appeared to be a last-ditch diplomatic gambit brokered with the aid of French President Emmanuel Macron, the White House said U.S. President Joe Biden has agreed “in principle” to a meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as long as he holds off on launching an assault that U.S. officials warn appears increasingly more likely.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration has been clear that “we are committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are set to meet on Thursday in Europe — as long as Russia does not send its troops into Ukraine beforehand.
READ: Ukraine’s Zelenskyy calls on Putin to meet as tensions soar
“We are always ready for diplomacy. We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences should Russia instead choose war,” Psaki said in statement. “And currently, Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon.”
In Kyiv, life outwardly continued as usual for many on a mild winter Sunday, with brunches and church services, ahead of what Biden said late last week was an already decided-upon Russian attack.
Katerina Spanchak, who fled a region of eastern Ukraine when it was taken over by Russian-allied separatists, was among worshippers crowded into the capital’s St. Michael’s monastery, smoky with the candles burned by the faithful, to pray that Ukraine be spared.
“We all love life, and we are all united by our love of life,” Spanchak said, pausing to compose herself. “We should appreciate it every day. That’s why I think everything will be fine.”
“Our joint prayers will help to elude this tragedy, which is advancing,” said another worshipper, who identified himself only by his first name, Oleh.
A U.S. official said Sunday that Biden’s assertion that Putin has made the decision to roll Russian forces into Ukraine was based on intelligence that Russian front-line commanders have been given orders to begin final preparations for an attack. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive intelligence.
The United States and many European countries have charged for weeks that Putin has built up the forces he needs to invade Ukraine — a westward-looking democracy that has sought to move out of Russia’s orbit — and is now trying to create pretexts to invade.
Western nations have threatened massive sanctions if Putin does.
U.S. officials on Sunday defended their decision to hold off on their planned financial punishments of Russia ahead of any invasion, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called passionately Saturday for the West to do more.
“If you pull the trigger on that deterrent, well then, it doesn’t exist anymore as a deterrent,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told Fox on Washington’s sanctions threat.
Russia held nuclear drills Saturday as well as the conventional exercises in Belarus, and has ongoing naval drills off the coast in the Black Sea.
The announcement that Russia was reversing its pledge to withdraw its forces from Belarus came after two days of sustained shelling along a contact line between Ukraine’s soldiers and Russian-allied separatists in eastern Ukraine, an area that Ukraine and the West worry could be the flashpoint in igniting conflict.
Biden convened the National Security Council at the White House on Russia’s military buildup around Ukraine. White House officials released no immediate details of their roughly two hours of discussion.
“We’re talking about the potential for war in Europe,” U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said earlier Sunday at a security conference in Munich, Germany, that saw urgent consultations among world leaders on the crisis. “It’s been over 70 years, and through those 70 years ... there has been peace and security.”READ: Ukraine rebels order troop mobilization amid invasion fears
Zelenskyy on Sunday appealed on Twitter for a cease-fire. Russia has denied plans to invade, but the Kremlin did not respond to Zelenskyy’s offer Saturday to meet with Putin.
After a call with Macron, Putin blamed Ukraine — incorrectly, according to observers there — for the escalation of shelling along the contact line and NATO for “pumping modern weapons and ammunition” into Ukraine.
Macron, a leader in European efforts to broker a peaceful resolution with Russia, also spoke separately to Zelenskyy, to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and to Biden.
Blinken intentionally raised the prospect of a Biden-Putin summit in interviews with U.S. television networks on Sunday, in a bid to keep diplomacy alive, a senior U.S. official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. reasoning.
Blinken said that Biden was “prepared to meet President Putin at any time in any format if that can help prevent a war” and the U.S. official said Macron had then conveyed the offer of talks to Putin — conditioned on Russia not invading — in his phone calls with the Russian leader.
Tensions mounted further, however. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued an advisory urging greater caution by Americans in Russia overall. “Have evacuation plans that do not rely on U.S. government assistance,” it warned.
Immediate worries focused on eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting the pro-Russia rebels since 2014 in a conflict that has killed some 14,000 people.
In the eastern Ukraine regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, separatist leaders have ordered a full military mobilization and sent more civilians to Russia, which has issued about 700,000 passports to residents of the rebel-held territories. Claims that Russian citizens are being endangered might be used as justification for military action.
Officials in the separatist territories claimed Ukrainian forces launched several artillery attacks over the past day and that two civilians were killed during an unsuccessful assault on a village near the Russian border. Ukraine’s military said two soldiers died in firing from the separatist side on Saturday.
“When tension is escalated to the maximum, as it is now, for example, on the line of contact, then any spark, any unplanned incident or any minor planned provocation can lead to irreparable consequences,” Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said in an interview that aired Sunday on Russian state television.
On the front lines, Ukrainian soldiers said they were under orders not to return fire. Zahar Leshushun, peering into the distance with a periscope, had followed the news all day from a trench where he is posted near the town of Zolote.
“Right now, we don’t respond to their fire because ...” the soldier said before the sound of an incoming shell interrupted him. “Oh! They are shooting at us now. They are aiming at the command post.”
Olympic flame for Beijing 2022 extinguished
The Olympic flame for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, which has been burning in the National Stadium for 16 days, was extinguished at the closing ceremony here on Sunday.
The flame, burning in a torch placed in the middle of a giant snowflake-shaped cauldron, gradually went out to the songs by a chorus of children.
Their singing transitioned from Beijing 2008's theme song, You and Me to Snowflake, that of Beijing 2022, highlights the historic achievement of the Chinese capital as the first city to host both Summer and Winter Olympic Games.
Read:Beijing’s ‘invisible’ Olympics: Muted but watched online
IOC chief declares Beijing Winter Olympics closed
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach declared the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games closed here on Sunday.
Bach called the Beijing Winter Olympics "truly exceptional" in his speech at the closing ceremony held at the National Stadium.
"The Olympic spirit could only shine so brightly, because the Chinese people set the stage in such an excellent way - and in a safe way," said the IOC chief.
Olympic flag handed over to Milan-Cortina 2026
The Olympic flag has been handed over to mayors of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, the host cities of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, at the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Games here on Sunday.
Beijing mayor Chen Jining passed the Olympic flag to International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, who then handed it to the mayors of the 2026 host cities.
Recognition of the volunteers
On behalf of the athletes, newly elected member of the IOC Atheltes' Commission presented lanterns to representatives of the volunteers, as a tribute and mark of gratitude for their work carried out during the Games.
Victory Ceremony at the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022
Victory Ceremony of the cross-country skiing women's 30km mass start free event during the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
Victory Ceremony of cross-country skiing men's 50km mass start free event during the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
Read:How China got blue skies in time for Olympics
Athletes parade at the closing ceremony
Athletes parade during the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
Flag bearers parade at the closing ceremony
Flag bearers parade during the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
Children perform at the closing ceremony
Children perform at the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
Xi attending closing ceremony of Beijing Winter Olympics
Chinese President Xi Jinping is attending the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, held at the National Stadium in Beijing on Sunday night.
58 girls suspended from college in K’taka for wearing Hijab, holding protest
As many as 58 students at Shiralakoppa in Shivamogga district who had refused to remove their hijab and staged a demonstration against the government pre-university college administration were suspended.
They were suspended on Friday and were told that they should not come to the college, a student told reporters. On Saturday too, they came to the college, raised slogans and demanded their right to wear hijab. However, they were not let in, reports the Indian Express
Girl students in many parts of Karnataka were denied entry into their respective educational institutions on Saturday as they arrived in hijabs, despite a court order, as the issue showed no signs of abating after its flare-up about a fortnight ago that prompted the government to close down colleges and institutions for a couple of days.A group of students who were demanding that they be allowed to enter their college wearing hijab in Karnataka’s Tumakuru have been charged with unlawful assembly and disobeying an order promulgated by a public servant. The case against 10-15 “unknown” girls was registered after a complaint was filed by the principal of Empress Government Pre-University College in Tumakuru, around 70 km from Bengaluru.
India: 38 get death in 2008 Gujarat serial blasts case
A special anti-terrorism court in the western Indian state of Gujarat on Friday sentenced to death as many as 38 people in a 13-year-old serial bomb blasts case.
This is by far the highest number of death sentences given by any Indian court in one go.
The same court had earlier convicted 49 people for the terror attack -- a series of 31 blasts in a span of an hour -- that claimed 56 lives and injured more than 200 others in the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat in 2008.
Also read: Indian Minister's son, accused of killing farmers, granted bail
Eleven of the remaining convicts have been sentenced to life imprisonment by special court judge AR Patel. None of the life-term convicts would be entitled to parole after 14 years, the court made it clear.
In fact, a total of 80 accused were put on trial in the case. On February 8, the court, however, acquitted 28 others in the case for lack of evidence.
During the trial, the prosecution held the home-grown terror outfit Indian Mujahideen responsible for the blasts.
Also read: PM Narendra Modi sold tea at this Vadnagar stall in Gujarat. Now it will be a tourist spot
The terrorists had carried out the serial blasts as an act of revenge for the 2002 riots in Gujarat that claimed the lives of over 1,000 people, mostly minority Muslims, according to police.
S. Korea keeps crowd limits as omicron causes 25-fold spike
South Korea will extend restaurant dining hours but maintain a six-person limit on private social gatherings as it wrestles with a massive coronavirus wave driven by the highly infectious omicron variant.
The 109,831 new cases reported on Friday was another record and about a 25-fold increase from the levels seen in mid-January, when omicron became the country’s dominant strain. The more than 516,000 infections counted in the past seven days alone raised South Korea’s caseload to over 1.75 million.
Long lines snaked around public health offices and testing stations in the densely populated capital Seoul, where health workers in hazmat suits distributed rapid antigen test kits and collected throat and nasal samples from senior citizens and other high-risk groups.
There’s also concern that campaigning for the March 9 presidential election could worsen transmissions. Thousands of supporters packed a rally in the southwestern city of Suncheon by ruling party candidate Lee Jae-myung, where they clapped, shouted and chanted his name. Lee’s conservative opponent Yoon Suk Yeol also drew huge crowds during a rally in the southeastern city of Sangju.
Omicron has so far seemed less likely to cause serious illness or death than the delta variant, which hit the country hard in December and January. But cases are growing much faster and appear to be putting the country on a verge of a possible hospital surge.
Also read: Global Covid cases near 420 million
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, Seoul’s No. 2 official behind President Moon Jae-in, acknowledged people’s frustration with extended virus restrictions and the shock on service sector businesses, but said officials couldn’t afford to ease social distancing significantly when hospitalizations and deaths are starting to creep up.
Officials did extend the curfew on restaurants and other businesses from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. but private social gatherings of seven or more people will continue to be prohibited at least through March 13.
People will continue to be required to show their vaccination status through smartphone apps or documents to enter potentially crowded spaces like restaurants, coffee shops, gyms and karaoke venues.
“Experts are expecting the (omicron outbreak) to peak sometime between late February and March,” Kim said during a meeting on anti-virus strategies. “When we reach a point where we could confirm the (outbreak) has peaked and was in decline, we will start meaningfully easing social distancing measures like other nations so that people could go back to their precious normal lives.”
The Health Ministry said about 30% of intensive care units designated for COVID-19 treatment are currently occupied. The ministry said 385 virus patients were in serious or critical condition, which was 100 more than a week earlier but still lower than the levels of around 1,000 seen in late December during a delta outbreak.
Also read: WHO: New COVID cases drop by 19% globally, deaths stable
While omicron more easily infects those who have been vaccinated or had COVID-19 previously, experts say vaccination and booster shots still provide strong protection from serious illness and death.
More than 86% of South Koreans have been fully vaccinated and 58% have received booster shots. Health officials started offering fourth vaccination shots at nursing homes and other long-term care settings this seek.
Xi sends congratulatory letter on 65th anniversary of China-Sri Lanka diplomatic relations
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Thursday sent a congratulatory letter to the China-Sri Lanka political parties conference commemorating the 65th anniversary of China-Sri Lanka diplomatic relations and the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Rubber-Rice Pact.
Xi said that China and Sri Lanka overcame numerous obstacles and signed the historic Rubber-Rice Pact 70 years ago, opening the door to friendly exchanges between the two countries.
Xi said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations 65 years ago, the two countries have always maintained mutual respect and solidarity, and supported each other on issues concerning their respective core interests.
Read: India, Australia, and Singapore to jointly address marine pollution
"China-Sri Lanka relations are a good example of friendly coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation between countries different in size," Xi said, lauding the mutual support shown between the two countries since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
The CPC has maintained friendly exchanges and promoted practical cooperation with major political parties in Sri Lanka, playing an important role in the sound and stable development of bilateral relations and benefitting the two peoples, Xi stressed.
The CPC is willing to work with various political parties in Sri Lanka, taking the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties as a new starting point, to carry forward the traditional friendship between the two countries, strengthen political guidance for bilateral relations, and make greater contributions to the steady progress of bilateral relations and regional peace, stability, development and prosperity, Xi said.
Beijing Olympics get political with Taiwan, Uyghur questions
For two weeks and more, China’s stance on questions about its politics and policies has been straightforward: It’s the Olympics, and we’re not talking about these things.
That changed Thursday at the Beijing organizing committee’s last regularly scheduled daily news conference Thursday, three days before the end of the Games. The persistent and polite refusal to answer such questions gave way to the usual state of affairs at news conferences with Chinese officials — emphatic, calibrated answers about the country’s most sensitive situations.
Taiwan? An indivisible part of China. The Uyghur population of the Xinjiang region? Not being pushed into forced labor. China’s sovereignty? Completely unassailable under international norms.
“What I want to say is that there is only one China in the world,” organizing committee spokeswoman Yan Jiarong said, calling it “a solemn position” for China. She referred to other assertions about China’s treatment of Uyghurs and living conditions in the northwestern region of Xinjiang as “based on lies.”
Also read: At Winter Olympics, virus fight waged with worker sacrifices
It was only a matter of time before these topics burst at the seams. The run-up to the Games was overshadowed by a diplomatic boycott led by the United States, which centered on China’s human rights record; China was determined to keep the focus only on sports but is also very committed to vigorously defending its stances publicly.
In the final regularly scheduled briefing before the Games close on Sunday, Yan and IOC spokesman Mark Adams were peppered with questions about Taiwan, Xinjiang and the safety of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai.
Following up on a question about Taiwan’s reported attempt to skip the opening ceremony, Yan asked for extra time to address the status of the self-governing island, which China views as its sovereign territory.
“Mark, could I just make some supplementary remarks?” Yan said, continuing: “Taiwan is an indivisible part of China and this is a well recognized international principle and well recognized in the international community,” she said. “We are always against the idea of politicizing the Olympic Games.”
Adams was immediately questioned by a non-Chinese reporter who suggested that Yan, herself, had “politicized” the Games by raising China’s stance on Taiwan. Adams dodged the question.
“There are views on all sorts of things around the world, but our job is to make sure that the Games take place,” Adams said.
Also read: For Asian American women, Olympics reveal a harsh duality
A Games volunteer, a young Chinese woman named Wei Yining, got a question she did not expect when a reporter asked if she knew who Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai was and, further, did she believe Peng was safe.
Peng, once the world’s top-ranked doubles player, three months ago accused a former high-ranking politician of sexual assault. Peng’s comments were immediately scrubbed from China’s censored internet.
“Well, I am sorry,” the young women replied. “I don’t really know that.”
One reporter asked Adams directly about the IOC’s position on the reported existence of “concentration camps” in Xinjiang, and whether China was using forced labor there. Adams suggested the question was not “particularly relevant’ to the briefing, and then went on to praise the power of the Olympics to unite people.
Yan again made sure China’s view was heard.
“I think these questions are very much based on lies,” she said. “Some authorities have already disputed this false information. There is a lot of solid evidence. You are very welcome to refer to all that evidence and the facts.”
Indian Army adopts 'deaf and mute' village in J-K, plans welfare measures
A month after distributing hi-tech specialised hearing aids among the deaf and mute villagers of Dadhaki in Doda district, the Indian Army has gone a step ahead and adopted the village to address the concerns of its people, reports Rediff.com.
The hilltop tribal village, 105 km from Bhaderwah town, is home to 105 families.
Of these, 55 families mysteriously have at least one person who can neither speak nor listen.
Read: Rapid COVID-19 home tests surge in India, experts flag risks
There are 78 such people in the village, of which 41 are women and 30 children aged three to 15 years.
An Army spokesman said its Rashtriya Rifles has adopted the village in order to ensure the overall welfare of the population, with multiple social security programmes aimed at giving them the confidence to survive and make a living on their own.
In the first step, besides looking after their basic needs such as clothing, food and healthcare, the Army has begun door-to-door personalised teaching classes for the mute children by deploying sign language experts who have been specially trained in Telangana, the spokesman said.
In the next step of the ongoing scheme, a school with a hostel facility will be provided in Dadhkai panchayat, he said.
“We want to help them in a comprehensive and long-lasting manner. To teach them the best possible sign language, two teachers were sponsored by the Army to get specialised training at Hyderabad and Secunderabad (Telangana) and now, the deaf and mute population is being taught by them at their homes,” the spokesman said.
Bhalessa block development council chairman Mohammed Hanief, a resident of Dadhkai, expressed gratitude to the Army for its continuous welfare efforts.
“Whenever a woman conceives, not only the family but the entire village lives in constant fear of the offspring being deaf and mute. If it happens, it only increases miseries,” he told PTI.
He said a number of government officials and NGOs visited the village in the last couple of decades, but “nothing concrete was done”.
“The Army has initiated practical steps which will surely go a long way to minimise the miseries due to the disability, the root cause of which has not been identified yet,” Hanief said.
Read: India dismisses OIC's ‘motivated and misleading’ statement on hijab row
Some of the girls, who have learned the sign language, expressed their desire to start sewing centres. They sought sewing machines and a residential school.
“We have pinned our hopes on the Army as it is the only one looking after us for the last 10 years. My three daughters -- Asran Bano (8), Reshma (12) and Asha Bano (23) are born with the disability and the Army has recently provided them with hearing aids,” a Hussan Bibi, a local woman, said.
She said her daughters are showing a keen interest in stitching and said she is hopeful that the Army will help them achieve their dream by providing sewing machines and setting up a tailoring centre.
In January, the Army gave hearing aids, costing Rs 17,000 each, to 10 children in the first phase, besides starting tutorials to teach them sign language.
MEA sets up control room to assist Indians in Ukraine
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India has set up a control room to provide information and assistance to Indians in Ukraine in view of the prevailing situation there.
MEA official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi took to Twitter and put out the helpline numbers launched for assistance amid the Russia-Ukraine tensions, reports INDIA TODAY.
Read:India asks its citizens to leave Ukraine
Arindam Bagchi added that the Indian embassy in Ukraine has also set up a 24x7 emergency helpline.
Fresh advisory for Indian students
The Indian embassy in Ukraine issued a fresh advisory on Wednesday for students, asking them not to panic and book the earliest available and convenient flights to travel to India.
The Indian embassy in Kyiv has been receiving several appeals regarding the non-availability of flights from Ukraine to India, officials said.
"At present, Ukrainian International Airlines, Air Arabia, Fly Dubai, Qatar Airways are among the operating flights. To meet the additional demand, more flights are being planned in the near future, said the Embassy. Details on the same would be shared by the Embassy as and when confirmed," the advisory said.
India is considering increasing the number of flights between India and Ukraine even as parents of some Indian students in Ukraine expressed concerns over the current situation in the country.
Read: India, Australia, and Singapore to jointly address marine pollution
"Discussions are underway with civil aviation authorities and various airlines on how to increase the number of flights between India and Ukraine," sources told India Today TV.
The statement came a day after the Embassy of India in Kyiv issued an advisory for Indian nationals in Ukraine. On Tuesday, the Indian embassy advised its citizens in Ukraine to temporarily leave that country amid escalating tension between Russia and NATO countries.
"The Embassy continues to monitor developments," sources said.
Rapid COVID-19 home tests surge in India, experts flag risks
On New Year’s Eve, the Indian government wrote to states encouraging them to promote the use of COVID-19 home tests, especially for people who are experiencing symptoms, in a bid to avoid straining local health systems.
During last year’s delta-driven surge, an explosion in cases overwhelmed hospitals and testing labs. But last month, as new infections fueled by the omicron variant skyrocketed, so did the number of people testing themselves at home across India.
In the first 20 days of January, around 200,000 people shared their test results with India’s health agency – a 66-fold increase compared to all of 2021. The strategy apparently worked. Those testing positive with speedy, though less accurate tests were told to self-isolate at home, allowing hospital beds to remain available for the most vulnerable.
But experts say this figure is likely only a fraction of the actual number of tests used. Despite rules requiring people to share their results with authorities, many aren’t doing so. This means the country’s already patchy testing data is even less accurate and that future clusters may go undetected.
Read: WHO: New COVID cases drop by 19% globally, deaths stable
It’s a problem some states in India are already flagging. In Maharashtra, state health official Dr. Pradeep Vyas recently appealed to all users to report their results. And since tests don’t differentiate between omicron and the deadlier delta variant, which also continues to spread in India, he warned there are still vulnerable people who need hospital care.
“Suddenly there may be stress on our health infrastructure,” he wrote in a letter to authorities last month.
Since January, pharmacists in the state have begun keeping records of those buying home tests. But this isn’t the case in most Indian cities.
“If I had to guess, maybe only 20% of people using home tests are reporting it,” said K Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, adding that every test result ideally should be reported so authorities can track the virus.
“If you’re not reporting it then your sample can’t be sent for genomic analysis, and then you may miss tracking clusters and variants,” he said.
In interviews with The Associated Press, several people in the capital New Delhi admitted they tested positive using home tests but didn’t share their results with authorities.
With the highly contagious omicron variant still spreading throughout Asia, more countries are making a difficult tradeoff between accuracy and speed, deploying the nimble home tests to make sure patients don’t flood hospitals.
In South Korea, officials said Wednesday that free coronavirus rapid test kits would be available at kindergartens, elementary schools and senior welfare centers starting next week after an unprecedented wave of omicron infections. Authorities recently began moving away from a predominantly PCR testing strategy to rapid tests, even as some experts warned the latter do not reliably detect early omicron infections. People can buy at-home tests from pharmacies and convenience stores or take the tests for free at public health offices and testing stations, where anyone with a positive result is then given a PCR test.
Indian officials are relying on a centralized database where people upload their test results using a mobile app. MyLab, the first company approved for its COVID-19 home test, is producing 500,000 tests per day. Sales have jumped tenfold compared to last quarter, said Saurabh Gupta, head of strategy at MyLab. India has approved eight home tests so far, priced between $2 and $33.
Read: Reduced brain function, immune disorder a possibility of "long COVID"
Despite the increased use of home tests, experts say they are not as accurate as lab-run PCR tests and have a higher chance of reporting false negatives.
Parul Saxena, a housewife in New Delhi, took a home test last month that turned out negative. But when she continued to have a body ache and fever, she went in for a PCR test, which confirmed what she felt all along — that she was positive for COVID-19.
India’s health ministry did not respond to questions sent via email.
Another concern is that home tests are inherently more difficult to adjust — which needs to be done as the virus evolves. While the accuracy of both home and lab tests are affected when a virus evolves, rapid tests may not be able to detect a new variant, said Vineeta Bal, who studies immune systems at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research.
After last year’s catastrophic delta surge and a sharp rise in omicron infections to start 2022, cases in India have now stabilized with many cities reopening restaurants, schools and workplaces. On Thursday, India recorded 30,757 new cases and 541 deaths — down from a high of over 300,000 cases last month. Experts have warned that India, like elsewhere, was likely missing cases even before the emergence of home testing.
But some say it is not necessary for all positive cases to be reported to authorities. Officials can continue to study the virus’s spread through robust random sampling, said Dr. Jacob John, who studies viruses at the Christian Medical College in Vellore, a city in southern India.
Reddy, the public health expert, questioned the importance of case counts at this stage of the pandemic in India.
“Right now, this is not going to be the biggest priority — the important thing is to make sure that if people are getting very sick, there are enough healthcare facilities,” he said.
Ashley St. John, an associate professor at the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, agreed that other factors are more relevant.
“I think our concern with having very accurate data on positive case numbers has lessened as vaccination rates have increased,” she said. “We know that many vaccinated individuals can test positive even without developing symptoms or severe disease. Also, we have transitioned to accepting that the virus is endemic and cannot feasibly be tracked in every person.”