Latur: In light of the emergence of the JN.1 Covid variant, Maharashtra Minister Sanjay Bansode instructed health officials to ensure the availability of ventilators, oxygen cylinders and other necessary equipment at government hospitals. In a meeting in Latur on Saturday (December 23), the minister said the health department must take precautionary measures and ensure the availability of necessary equipment and medicines at all government-run facilities. Collector Varsha Thakur-Ghuge, chief executive officer Anmol Sagar, superintendent of police Somay Munde, municipal commissioner Babasaheb Manohare and other senior officials attended the meeting.
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Twenty-two cases of the JN.1 variant have been reported in India till December 21. The JN.1 (BA.2.86.1.1) emerged in August in Luxembourg and is a descendant of the BA.2.86 lineage (Pirola) of SARS COV2.
According to the Union Health Ministry’s updated data on Sunday, the country saw a single-day rise of 656 COVID-19 infections while the active cases have increased to 3,742. The Minister said,
The administration should ensure that necessary equipment and medicines are available at tehsil health centres. The condition of oxygen plants should also be checke.
He said that the construction of primary health centres and other health institutions in the district should be completed soon, and necessary steps must be taken to make them functional.
Considering the emergence of the new variant, testing kits have been made available to check symptomatic patients, district health officer Dr Vadgave said.
Fifty beds are reserved for new cases in Vilasrao Deshmukh Government Medical College, and a mock drill was conducted to inspect ventilators and oxygen facilities, a health official said.
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(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 in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. 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 a world post 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 well-being, 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.
