PM Modi directs officials to maintain vigil and alertness in view of Omicron variant; Calls for heightened, close monitoring of emerging clusters and hotspots
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting last evening to review the status of Covid and its Omicron variant. He took stock of public health response measures for containment and management of COVID. Focus was on strengthening of health infrastructure including availability of drugs, oxygen cylinders and concentrators, ventilators, and status of vaccination.
The Prime Minister directed the officials to maintain high level of vigil and alertness at all levels. He urged central and state authorities to work in close coordination with the ‘Whole of Government’ approach. The Prime Minister said that proactive, focussed, collaborative and cooperative fight against the pandemic should guide all future actions.
At the same time, people should be Cautious and Alert in view of the new variant. The Prime Minister said the fight against the pandemic is not over and COVID safe behaviour is of paramount importance even today.
Mr Modi directed the officials to ensure that the health systems in the states are strengthened to meet any challenge posed by the new variant.
He underlined the need to ensure that the Oxygen supply equipment in states are installed and fully functional. The effective use of IT tools for tele-medicine and tele-consultation was highlighted at the COVID review meeting.
The Prime Minister called for heightened and close monitoring of emerging clusters and hotspots through active, prompt and effective surveillance. He directed that a good number of positive samples be sent for genome sequencing to INSACOG Labs in a prompt manner. Mr Modi emphasised that effective contact tracing is required to curb the spread of transmission.
Talking to AIR, Dr N K Arora, Chairman of India’s COVID-19 Working Group said, there is no need to panic because the government has made massive arrangements all over the country to deal with the new Covid-19 variant:
