NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with senior cabinet ministers on Thursday took a comprehensive review of the state-wise and district-wise Covid situation in the country. Senior ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Dr Harsh Vardhan and Piyush Goyal, and top officials were present in the meeting.
While reviewing the progress on vaccination and the roadmap for scaling up production of vaccines in the next few months, the PM was informed that around 17.7 crore doses have been supplied to the states. Modi also reviewed the state-wise trends on vaccine wastage. The PM was told that around 31 per cent of eligible population over the age of 45 has been given at least one dose. The PM spoke about the need to sensitise states that the speed of vaccination doesn’t come down. Citizens should be facilitated for vaccination despite lockdowns, he further said.
The PM noted that an advisory has been sent to the states to identify ‘districts of concern’ where case positivity is 10 per cent or more and occupancy is more than 60 per cent on either oxygen supported or ICU beds. During the review session, the PM was provided with a detailed picture of the Covid-19 outbreak in various states and districts. “He was informed about the 12 states which have more than one lakh active cases. The PM was also apprised about the districts with high disease burden,” said a statement.
While being briefed about various efforts being undertaken by the states to boost the healthcare infrastructure, Modi directed that the states be given guidance about the leading indicators for ramping up healthcare infrastructure. The PM also discussed the need to ensure quick and holistic containment measures against the spread of the pandemic. The meeting also reviewed the availability of medicines in the country. Officials also briefed about the rapid augmentation of the production of medicines including anti-viral drug Remdesivir.