Harsh Vardhan reviews COVID-19, public health measure with Health Ministers of 9 states

Delhi, November 10: Sharing the nation’s journey through COVID, during the virtual meeting held to reviewed COVID and public health measures Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, "The whole country worked together by following the same strategy together. We have seen a lot of phases in this journey of 10 months."

 

 

 

This meeting was also attended by Health Ministers and senior state officials of nine states including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, and West Bengal to review the COVID-19 situation.

 

"The entire country followed the bold manner in which the lockdown was imposed under the leadership of PM Modi. Later, the unlock process was also implemented effectively. When we analyse the performance of our country, it seems India has performed better than any of the big developed countries in the world," he added. He also emphasised the increased need to promote COVID appropriate behavior.

 

 

 

He also added that India has the highest recovery rate and one of the lowest fatality rates, globally. Dr. Vardhan also elaborated steps taken by the government to promote Jan Andolan, like dissemination of the message through caller tune and other IEC activities. He concluded by saying that COVID Appropriate Behaviour still is the best bet against COVID and following it is easy.

 

"There was a surge in cases one or two months back. India's active cases used to hover around one lakh. Now the number of active cases has come down. Out of the five lakh active cases in India currently, many people are on the road to recovery," said Dr. Vardhan.

 

Moreover, restating his concern that the coming winter and the festive season pose a significant risk that could threaten the gains made collectively till now against COVID-19, Dr. Vardhan said, we all required being more vigilant for the entire festive season. He said, Respiratory virus also spreads rapidly in the winter months.

 

Furthermore, he said, "We hope we can get the vaccine at any time after the new year starts. After that arrangements need to be made to disseminate vaccines among 20 to 30 crore people. We need to make a list for that, vaccine centers, and vaccinations as well. The team of vaccinations needs to be lined up and trained for the same."

 

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan requested all the states to focus on ten key areas to contain COVID and gain an upper hand over its trajectory, increasing testing; targeted testing at market-places, workplaces, religious congregations, and completion of contact tracing within the first 72 hours.

 

During the meeting, the States presented their containment strategies. The State Health Ministers shared a brief snapshot of the actions taken for containment, surveillance, and treatment of the COVID positive cases. They also highlighted the best practices being followed.