NEW DELHI: In view of the spike in Covid-19 cases across India, a high-level meeting was held by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Wednesday to review the status of preparedness of health infrastructure and logistics, drugs availability and vaccination campaign in the country.
The meeting was held by Dr PK Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, who advised officials to maintain a strict vigil on the Covid-19 situation and take necessary actions to contain the spread of the virus.
In the last 24 hours, 38 deaths were recorded, with the maximum deaths reported from Delhi (5) and Chhattisgarh (4). Kerala recorded 11 reconciled deaths. As per health ministry data, India has logged 10,542 new Covid-19 cases, while the active cases have increased to 63,562.
In the meeting, a comprehensive presentation was made by Secretary, Union Health Ministry Rajesh Bhushan, who highlighted that India has been witnessing a rapid increase in the number of Covid-19 cases with majority of cases being reported in eight states -- Kerala, Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan.
Further, he said, the sudden increase in the positivity was also highlighted along with the status of tests being conducted in the country, according to a statement issued by the health ministry.
In the meeting, a detailed analysis of active cases in these eight states was presented and it was highlighted that approximately 92 percent of the cases are under home isolation.
An overview of the Genome Sequencing of different variants since January 2023 was also presented.
The status of vaccination was discussed, followed by drug availability and infrastructure preparedness across the country, the statement said.
India has been seeing a surge in Covid-19 cases with the first two weeks of April registering a 400 percent hike. The spike, driven by XBB.1.16, detected first in Maharashtra, has also pushed the test positivity rate (TPR) -- a vital marker in assessing the spread of an outbreak -- to 8.40 per cent on April 16.
It is the highest TPR -- which indicates the percentage of people who are found to be infected by the virus from those who are being tested -- since February 3, 2022, when the third wave driven by Omicron was seeing a surge in Covid-19 cases in India.
As per directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a nationwide two-day mock drill for assessment of functional infrastructure was conducted on April 10 and 11.
The status of the mock drill was presented to participants.
Further, the expenditure of Covid-19 vaccination programme and budget provisions for drugs and vaccine raw materials were also reviewed.
The health secretary also informed that states have already been advised that they may take steps for procurement of requisite Covid vaccine doses directly from the manufacturers at their end without any prior approvals from the union health ministry.
They also directed that private hospitals situated in the states may also directly procure such vaccines from the manufacturer.
These vaccines once procured may be administered as per the existing Covid vaccination guidelines.
Mishra highlighted that for managing localized surges, it is essential that sufficient health infrastructure should be available at sub-district level and the same may be ensured in consultation with states.
He further exhorted that the advisories for guiding states should be assessed based on evolving scenarios and updated accordingly.
Further, the attendees deliberated that it is critical to focus on identification of emerging hotspots and states should monitor trends of ILI/SARI cases, send sufficient samples for testing of Covid-19, and ramp up whole Genome Sequencing.
He stressed that the time-tested five-fold strategy of Test-Track-Treat-Vaccination and adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour must continue to be implemented and it was equally crucial to promote awareness within the community regarding COVID appropriate behaviour and caution citizens against complacency.
The meeting was attended by Rajiv Gauba, Cabinet Secretary; Dr. Vinod Paul, Member NITI Aayog; T.V. Somanathan, Finance Secretary; S. Aparna, Secretary Pharmaceuticals; Rajiv Bansal, Secretary, Civil Aviation; Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, AYUSH; Rajiv Bahl, Secretary DHR and DG ICMR; Rajesh S Gokhale, Secretary Biotechnology and Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Information and Broadcasting.