At Covid review meet, PM Modi stresses on need for increased testing, surveillance at airports

A statement by the Prime Minister’s office said that the PM, during the meet, asked the states to ensure operational readiness of hospital infrastructure. He also asked people to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and wear masks. “Covid not over yet. Strengthen ongoing surveillance measures, especially at international airports. Audit Covid-specific facilities to ensure readiness of hospital infra, including oxygen cylinders, ventilators and staff,” the Prime Minister said, according to the statement

Addressing both the Houses of Parliament over the prevailing Covid-19 situation, Mandaviya said 2 per cent random testing of international travellers arriving at airports has already started from Thursday.

“In view of upcoming festivals and new year celebrations, states also need to focus on ensuring effective awareness within the community on adherence to Covid appropriate behavior which includes use of masks, hand hygiene and respiratory hygiene practices, besides following physical distancing,” he said.

This comes following a surge in Covid-19 infections in China in the past few weeks which has prompted warnings that the country could witness over a million deaths in the coming months.

Three cases of the Omicron sub-variant BF.7, which is reported to be driving the surge in China, have been detected in India so far — the first in Odisha in September, and the second in Gujarat in September and November. In Gujarat, officials said two cases of the sub-variant had been reported — in Vadodara in September, and in Ahmedabad in November — and both patients have since recovered.

India, on Thursday, recorded 185 new coronavirus cases, while the active cases declined to 3,402. One fatality was reported from Delhi in the last 24 hours.

In Parliament Today

Earlier in the day, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Vice-President and Chairman of Rajya Sabha asked members of Parliament to wear face masks, adhere to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour and spread awareness among the people.

Replying to the queries from MPs, Mandaviya said 2 per cent random sampling of international travellers coming to the country has begun and the government may consider making it mandatory for all if necessary.

Stating Covid-19 continues to impact life and livelihood across the world, the health minister said, “In the past three years, the changing nature of the virus has posed a threat to global health. In the past few days, a rise in Covid cases has been recorded in many countries. But in the past year, Covid cases have been consistently declining. Currently, 153 Covid cases are being recorded across the country on average. In the rest of the world, 5.87 lakh Covid cases are being recorded. Japan, South Korea, the USA, France, Greece and Italy are witnessing a sustained rise in both the cases of Covid and deaths due to it. In the past few days, media reports suggest a sharp rise in Covid cases in China. The government has managed the pandemic with an ‘all of government’ and ‘all of society’ approach since the very beginning. And we have got good results.”

The minister assured that all the oxygen plants were running and a review has also been done about the availability of medicines.

Measures taken by states

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami asked the state health department to launch a drive to administer booster doses of Covid-19 and start holding booster doses camps.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed the officials to monitor the new coronavirus variant, ramp up testing and conduct genome sequencing of fresh cases.

He also asked them to make people aware of wearing masks in crowded public places such as hospitals, buses, railway stations and markets and reactivate the Integrated Covid Command and Control Room (ICCC).

Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said the state government will increase testing and send all the samples of fresh COVID-19 cases for genome sequencing to the laboratory.

Similarly, the Jharkhand government has asked officials to send for whole genome sequencing of all positive samples of Coronavirus.

Bharat Yodo Yatra

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, meanwhile, said that the government is coming up with “excuses” to stop the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. The response from Gandhi comes a day after Union Health Minister Mandaviya wrote to him to consider suspending the march if Covid protocols could not be followed.

“This yatra will go to Kashmir. Now, they have come out with a new idea. They wrote me a letter that Covid was spreading, stop the yatra,” Gandhi said while addressing a gathering in Ghasera village in Haryana’s Nuh district.

Targeting the BJP, Gandhi said it (BJP) is scared of the truth. “Hindustan ki shakti say, Hindustan ki Sachai say, yeh log dar gaye hai, yeh sachai hai (they have got scared of power and truth of the country. This is the truth),” the former Congress chief said, adding that “we do not want RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi’s hate-filled India”.

Meanwhile, the BJP has suspended its “Jan Aakrosh Yatra” in Rajasthan.

(With PTI inputs)

From the homepage

‘Voice of people is being suppressed’: AAP’s Sanjay Singh, others ‘detained’ in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda

Key central committee man among 10 Naxals gunned down in Chhattisgarh

Rifle recovered, suspect ‘fired from rooftop’: Trump ally Charlie Kirk shot dead | Top updates