Dr Mansukh Mandaviya reviews public health preparedness to COVID-19

New Delhi, Jan 10: “Let there be no lapses in our preparedness as we battle this surge of the pandemic. Holistic synergy between Centre and States is most vital for seamless and effective pandemic management”. This was stated by Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare today as he virtually interacted with State Health Ministers and Principal Secretaries/ Additional Chief Secretaries and Information Commissioners of six Western States/UTs of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa, Dadra & Nagra Haveli and Daman & Diu. The virtual meeting was held to review the public health preparedness for contain and and management of COVID19 and progress of national COVID19 vaccination campaign in the presence of Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health. State Health Ministers who joined the high level review meeting included Rushikesh Ganeshbhai Patel (Gujarat), Dr Prabhuram Choudhary (Madhya Pradesh), Parsadi Lal Meena (Rajasthan) and Rajesh Tope (Maharashtra). The State Health Ministers thanked the Union Health Minister for the continued support from Government of India in the collaborative and collective fight against COVID-19. The granular status and analysis of COVID in the six States/UT was made by the Health Ministry officials covering the trajectory of total and new cases, active cases, weekly and daily positivity, weekly tests conducted with proportion of RT-PCR and RAT testing, deaths, Cases per Million (CPM), Tests per Million (TPM) and omicron case status. This was followed by a comprehensive and detailed discussion on various aspects of COVID management including effective implementation of surveillance and containment activities, ramping up of hospital infrastructure; increased testing; enforcement of stringent restrictive measures for breaking the chain of transmission; and stress on COVID Appropriate Behaviour among the masses.