Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday chaired a high-level meeting to review the COVID-19 related situation. As per a PMO release, the topics covered in the meeting included a review of the prevailing COVID-19 scenario, preparedness of the health systems to respond, availability of medical oxygen and matters relating to production, supply and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
"It was discussed that across the world, there are countries where the number of active Covid cases continues to remain high. In India too, the figures from states like Maharashtra & Kerala, indicate that there can be no room for complacency. However, the weekly positivity was at less than 3% for the 10th consecutive week," the release said.
PM Modi was reportedly briefed about the concentration of cases in a few geographies, districts with high test positivity as well as the week on week test positivity rate in the country.
Regarding the emergence of new coronavirus variants, PM Modi spoke about the need for constant genome sequencing to monitor emergence of new mutants. Meanwhile, the officers informed him that Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) now consists of 28 labs distributed across the country. "The lab network is also linked with a hospital network for clinical correlation. Sewage sampling is also being done for genomic surveillance. The PM was apprised that states have been requested to share SARS COV2 positive samples with INSACOG regularly," the officers said.
PM Modi was also briefed about the increase in isolation beds, oxygen beds, ICU beds, paediatric ICUs and pediatric ventilators. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister reviewed the status of augmentation of bed capacity for pediatric care and augmentation of facilities supported under ‘COVID Emergency Response Package II’. "It was also discussed that States have been advised to redesign and orient primary care & block level health infrastructure in these areas to manage the situation in rural areas. PM was also informed about the states being asked to maintain a buffer stock for drugs used in management of Covid-19, Mucormycosis, MIS-C at the district level," the release said.
PM Modi spoke about the need to ensure adequate testing across the country. He said that the entire ecosystem to ensure increased oxygen availability, including oxygen concentrators, cylinders and PSA plants, need to be rapidly augmented.
On COVID-19 vaccines, PM Modi was apprised that around 58% of India’s adult population has received the first dose and around 18% of India’s adult population has received the second dose. PM was updated about the vaccine pipeline and increased supply of vaccines, the release added.
