New Delhi: Amid the spike in influenza cases in the country and the uptick in Covid-19 cases over the past couple of weeks, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday (March 23) said a mock drill will be done soon in all the states and Union Territories to assess their preparedness to meet the twin threats to public health. Addressing a press conference in the national capital on Thursday, Mr Bhushan said,
India on Thursday recorded 1,300 new Covid cases, the highest in the last 140 days. We will get a fresh round of mock drills done in all states and UTs in order to assess their individual Covid preparedness.
Earlier, on December 27, a mock drill was conducted at hospitals across the country to test their Covid preparedness.
The Union Health secretary informed further that India, for now, was accounting for just 1 per cent of the global Covid cases.
The Union Health secretary said,
Only about 1 per cent of the global Covid cases are being reported in India as of now. The overall active cases currently stand at 7,600 while 966 cases, on average, are being reported on a daily basis. In the second week of February, we recorded only about 108 daily cases on average. But the average daily count has since gone up to 966.
According to reports, the eight states where the maximum number of Covid cases are being reported currently are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
“I had personally written to these states on March 16 on the steps that need to be taken,” Mr Bhushan added.
Also Read: COVID-19 Cases On Rise In Kerala; Government Sounds Alerts To All Districts
As is the case with any virus, SARS-COV-2 has been acquiring new mutations through recombination.
“There has been no evidence yet of an increase in hospitalisation. However, the administration of precautionary doses should be increased. Enhanced laboratory surveillance and testing of all severe acute respiratory (SARI) cases need to be done,” he said.
He added that the United States, Russia, China South Korea and France are driving the global Covid surge currently.
Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) advised all the states to continue focusing on the 5-fold strategy of Test-Track-Treat-Vaccination and Covid Appropriate Behaviour amid a rise in Covid-19 cases.
The ministry also asked the states to ensure the availability of key drugs and logistics at healthcare facilities for the treatment of Influenza and Covid 19 cases.
States have been directed to ensure the availability of sufficient beds and health workers to deal with the viral surge.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
