(T.E.T)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that a meeting with chief ministers should be convened soon to discuss state-specific public health responses and best practices at the local level, as he reviewed the preparedness to deal with the pandemic on a day when the country reported 175,972 new Covid-19 cases.
He directed officials to ensure adequate health infrastructure at the district level and to accelerate the vaccination drive for adolescents aged 15-18 years and frontline health workers in “mission mode” amid the looming threat of Omicron, the new variant of concern, said a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
The weekly positivity increased to 10.21% on Sunday from 0.6% in the last week of December. The country’s R naught value, which indicates the number of persons an infected patient can spread the virus to or broadly the spread of infection, was recorded at 4, which is higher than 1.69 recorded during the peak of the second wave.
At the meeting with senior officials, which lasted more than three hours, the PM called for continuing support to states and said that a meeting with chief ministers should be convened soon to discuss state-specific scenarios, best practices at the local level and the public health response in various parts of the country.
Modi said that support should be ensured to states to upgrade health infrastructure, testing capacity, availability of oxygen and intensive care unit beds at the district level. He directed officials to ensure a buffer stock of Covid essential drugs under the Emergency Covid Response Package (ECRP-II) for the states.
He said that intensive containment and active surveillance should continue in clusters reporting higher cases and that required technical support should be provided to states which are reporting higher cases.
The PM was apprised of the consistent efforts made in vaccination, with 31% of those aged between 15-18 years having been administered the first dose of the vaccine within seven days, since the drive for this section of the population began on January 3. He noted this achievement but urged that it should be further accelerated in mission mode.
At the same time, the PM highlighted the need to ensure continuity of non-Covid health services while managing Covid cases. He also spoke about the need to leverage telemedicine to ensure availability of health-related guidance to people in remote and rural area
