Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday virtually chaired a high-level meeting to review the COVID-19 situation in the country amid a recent surge in the number of cases.
During the meeting, a detailed presentation highlighting the surge in cases currently being reported globally was given by Health Secretary. This was followed by the status of COVID-19 in India highlighting various states and districts of concern, based on the surge in cases and high positivity being reported. Further, various efforts taken by the central government so far in terms of supporting states to manage the upcoming challenge were highlighted. Various predictive scenarios of peak cases were also presented, the government said in a press release.
Meanwhile, after the discussion PM Modi directed that intensive containment and active surveillance should continue in clusters reporting higher cases and required technical support be provided to states which are reporting higher cases presently. He highlighted the need to ensure effective usage of masks and physical distancing measures as a new normal to control the spread. He further exhorted the need for effective implementation of Home Isolation for mild/asymptomatic cases and to disseminate the factual information to the community at large, the press release added.
PM Modi further highlighted the need to ensure continuity of non-Covid health services while managing Covid cases presently. He also spoke about the need to leverage telemedicine to ensure availability of health-related guidance to people in remote and rural areas.
In the meeting, the PM also spoke about the importance for continuous scientific research in testing, vaccines and pharmacological interventions including genome sequencing given that the virus is evolving continuously.
The meeting came as India logged 552 new cases of Omicron, taking the total tally of such infections to 3,623 across 27 states and UTs so far, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.
Out of the total Omicron cases, 1,409 people have migrated or recovered.
Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of 1,009 cases followed by Delhi at 513, Karnataka 441, Rajasthan 373, Kerala 333 and Gujarat 204.
A total of 1,59,632 new coronavirus infections were reported in a day, the highest in 224 days, while the active cases increased to 5,90,611, the highest in around 197 days, according to the data updated at 8 am.
The death toll climbed to 4,83,790 with 327 fresh fatalities,the data stated.
A total of 1,65,553 infections were reported on May 29 last year.
The active cases comprise 1.66 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate decreased to 96.98 per cent, the ministry said.
An increase of 1,18,442 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
In the last review meeting on December 24, PM Modi had urged officials to stay 'satark' (alert) and 'saavdhaan' (vigilant'). "In view of the new variant, we should be 'satark' and 'saavdhan'. The fight against the pandemic is not over and the need for continued adherence to COVID safe behaviour is of paramount importance even today," the PM had said.
(With PTI inputs)
