NEW DELHI: “Centre and States need to continue working in collaborative spirit as was done during the previous surges for COVID-19 prevention and management”. This was stated by Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare as he virtually interacted with state health ministers and principal secretaries/ additional chief secretaries. The virtual meeting was held in the presence of Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health to review the public health preparedness for containment and management of COVID-19 and progress of national COVID-19 vaccination campaign in view of the recent upsurge in cases in some states.
Union Health Minister advised States to be on the alert and keep all preparedness for COVID19 management. He urged the State Health Ministers to conduct mock drills of all hospital infrastructure on 10th and 11th April, 2023 and review the health preparedness with district administrations and health officials on 8th and 9th April, 2023. He also urged states to identify emerging hotspots by monitoring trends of ILI/SARI cases and sending sufficient samples for testing of COVID-19 and influenza; and ramping up whole genome sequencing of positive samples.
Dr Mandaviya said that irrespective of the new COVID variants, the five-fold strategy of ‘Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate & Adherence to COVID Appropriate Behaviour’ continue to remain the tested strategy for COVID management. This would facilitate undertaking of appropriate public health measures, he said. States/UTs were also requested to expeditiously increase the rate of testing from the current rate of 100 tests per million, as on week ending 7th April, 2023. They were further advised to increase the share of RT-PCR in tests.
It was also informed that while India has achieved over 90% coverage of primary vaccination, the coverage of precaution dose is very low. Union Health Minister advised States/UTs to ramp up vaccination of all eligible population, especially of the elderly and vulnerable population group.
Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar stressed on the importance of timely preparedness and management of COVID-19. She urged states to implement their share of ECRP-II for revamping health infrastructure on priority. She also asked states to strengthen their monitoring mechanism and be on alert in view of the rise in tourism.
