By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The centre on Saturday held a high-level meeting, which was chaired by P K Mishra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, with health officials and experts to review the Covid-19 situation in the country.
In the meeting, it was also reviewed whether compliance with earlier directions issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure preparedness and effective management of the pandemic was taken.
In the wake of a surge in Covid cases in China and other East Asian countries, the PM held a high-level meeting last week, in which he directed to increase vigilance and surveillance and to step up testing and genome sequencing.
Officials said genome sequencing of around 500 samples collected in December is being done at INSACOG labs across the country. In the meeting, new emerging variants, including BF.7, which is driving a surge in China, were discussed.
In the meeting, it was also informed that strengthening whole genome sequencing (WGS) and ensuring that a more significant number of samples are sent from across the country to INSACOG Network is being done, according to the directions of the PM.
As many as 1,716 international flights have been screened, and 5,666 samples have been collected for Covid-19 testing. Around 53 international travellers tested positive for Covid-19 during two per cent random testing at airports across the country.
Mishra has been apprised of the evolving global scenario of the pandemic with the surge in Covid observed in some countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Brazil etc.
India has already announced that travellers from China, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea would need an RT-PCR report from January 1. They have to upload Covid negative report on Air Suvidha, and the test has to be done 72 hours before their travel.
In the meeting, the focus was on enhancing awareness about Covid-appropriate behaviour, strengthening surveillance, including ramping up testing across the country, and uptake of coronavirus precautionary doses, officials said.
It was informed that according to the prime minister’s directions, mock drills across all health facilities were conducted on December 27.
All states and union territories participated in the drills to ensure operational readiness of Covid-dedicated facilities with a specific focus on oxygen plants, ventilators, logistics and human resources.
Official sources said 21,097 facilities conducted the mock drill, of which 16,108 were government facilities.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who has also held separate review meetings with pharma companies to ensure adequate stock, and availability, had personally reviewed the mock drill at the centre-run Safdarjung Hospital. He had also chaired a virtual review meeting with state health ministers on Covid-19 on December 23.
According to the directions, the Ministry of Commerce has been asked to monitor ongoing exports of medicinal products and equipment to China, official sources said.
NEW DELHI: The centre on Saturday held a high-level meeting, which was chaired by P K Mishra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, with health officials and experts to review the Covid-19 situation in the country.
In the meeting, it was also reviewed whether compliance with earlier directions issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure preparedness and effective management of the pandemic was taken.
In the wake of a surge in Covid cases in China and other East Asian countries, the PM held a high-level meeting last week, in which he directed to increase vigilance and surveillance and to step up testing and genome sequencing.
Officials said genome sequencing of around 500 samples collected in December is being done at INSACOG labs across the country. In the meeting, new emerging variants, including BF.7, which is driving a surge in China, were discussed.
In the meeting, it was also informed that strengthening whole genome sequencing (WGS) and ensuring that a more significant number of samples are sent from across the country to INSACOG Network is being done, according to the directions of the PM.
As many as 1,716 international flights have been screened, and 5,666 samples have been collected for Covid-19 testing. Around 53 international travellers tested positive for Covid-19 during two per cent random testing at airports across the country.
Mishra has been apprised of the evolving global scenario of the pandemic with the surge in Covid observed in some countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Brazil etc.
India has already announced that travellers from China, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea would need an RT-PCR report from January 1. They have to upload Covid negative report on Air Suvidha, and the test has to be done 72 hours before their travel.
In the meeting, the focus was on enhancing awareness about Covid-appropriate behaviour, strengthening surveillance, including ramping up testing across the country, and uptake of coronavirus precautionary doses, officials said.
It was informed that according to the prime minister’s directions, mock drills across all health facilities were conducted on December 27.
All states and union territories participated in the drills to ensure operational readiness of Covid-dedicated facilities with a specific focus on oxygen plants, ventilators, logistics and human resources.
Official sources said 21,097 facilities conducted the mock drill, of which 16,108 were government facilities.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who has also held separate review meetings with pharma companies to ensure adequate stock, and availability, had personally reviewed the mock drill at the centre-run Safdarjung Hospital. He had also chaired a virtual review meeting with state health ministers on Covid-19 on December 23.
According to the directions, the Ministry of Commerce has been asked to monitor ongoing exports of medicinal products and equipment to China, official sources said.
