Stressing against complacency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, December 22, urged greater surveillance especially at international airports for timely detection of newer, more transmissible variants of Covid,a special report by Aditi Tandon in The Tribune, Chanddigarh, says
The prime minister was chairing a high-level review meeting following a Covid surge in China and some other countries, where he delivered five major messages to attending ministers, states and UTs and people
The highlight of his messages was to focus on increased genome sequencing and Covid testing; ensure hospital readiness; adhere to Covid protocols; mask up in crowded places and administer boosters doses with priority to the elderly and the vulnerable.
Powered By
The meeting also decided to continue with the strategy of randomly testing 2 pc of all foreign arrivals to detect any new variants rather then consider a ban on flights to and from the affected countries.
The Covid situation would be monitored closely sources said and a vote taken later on whether the previous tool of Air Suvidha needed to be revived in respect of nations witnessing a surge.
Air Suvidha forms made it mandatory for inbound international travellers to give details of RT-PCR tests conducted 72 hours prior to travel and their vaccination proof.
At today’s review meet attended by,
The PM monitored preparedness of health infrastructure and logistics, status of Covid vaccination and emergence of new Covid-19 variants and their public health implications for the country.
The meeting was attended by the Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and top officials
“The Prime Minister cautioned against complacency and advised strict vigil. He reiterated that Covid is not over yet and directed officials to strengthen the ongoing surveillance measures, especially at the international airports,” a PMO statement said.
The Covid situation would be monitored closely sources said and a vote taken later on whether the previous tool of Air Suvidha needed to be revived in respect of nations witnessing a surge.
Member Health NITI Aayog VK Paul said India had been witnessing a steady Covid decline with average daily cases falling to 153 and weekly positivity down to 0.14% in the week ending December 22.
However, 5.9 lakh daily average cases have been reported globally since the last six weeks, PM was told.
The Prime Minister stressed the need to ensure that the entire Covid infrastructure at all levels is maintained at a high level of preparedness.
“The PM advised States to audit Covid specific facilities to ensure operational readiness of hospital infrastructure, including oxygen cylinders, PSA plants, ventilators and human resources,” the official statement said.
The PM has also directed officials to enhance testing and genomic sequencing efforts with states already advised to send all positive samples to the genome testing labs.
He also urged people to follow Covid appropriate behaviour at all times with the festive season approaching and called for masking up in crowded public places.
India has so far detected four cases of BF.7, a sub variant of Omicron which is currently driving the Chinese surge.
******************************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com