This is the fourth straight day in India when over 2 lakh cases have been recorded.
As the ravaging coronavirus pandemic keeps the country in its tight grip, India looks for solutions to fight the crisis. At "The Solution Summit: India vs Covid" today NDTV discusses with several chief ministers of states, health ministers, doctors and influences to discuss the raging pandemic and ways to tackle the crisis.
India saw the deadliest day of the pandemic as 1,501 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours. The country also recorded the biggest daily surge in cases with 2,61,500 infections, taking the caseload to 1.47 crore total cases.
This is the fourth straight day when over 2 lakh cases have been recorded. Over 12 lakh cases have been added to the caseload in the last one week.
Here are the highlights of the Solution Summit:
- Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain on NDTV Solutions Summit: "Covid situation is grim. But people should not panic". "The younger generation is getting affected really fast unlike last time. There is no testing issue in Delhi. We are conducting 1 lakh test daily," he added.
- Satyendar Jain added that people should not rush to hospitals and urgent the Centre to supply more oxygen.
- Whoever has Covid, should drink around 3-4 litres of liquid, so the body is not dehydrated, Mr Jain said. "Due to emotional outbreaks, people's parameters can get impacted, therefore crucial for family members to be calm and not panic," Satyendar Jain said.
- "Testing is not an issue in Delhi. Today, after one year we can say, if all wear masks and then step out of the house, we can control the spread," Mr Jain said.
- Dr Ashwath Narayan, Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister said: "We faced a lot of changes last year because we didn't have the necessary infrastructure. Today we need to address both lives and livelihood. We need to take away people's fear of COVID. We need to test only people with symptoms. All resources should be channelised to get them tested."
- Several measures have already been taken to control the spread of the virus. Seeing a spike in reinfection cases, important to detect the cases very early, Ashwath Narayan said.
- "Early detection and early treatment is crucial. Trying to scale up the entire system to address the concerns of the people," Dr Narayan said.
- "Need to send a strong message and ensure that people regularly get tested. Need to test people only with symptoms," Dr Narayan said.
- Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh sounded an alarm over coronavirus mutations as he said "younger people are getting affected" amid the fresh Covid surge. He yet again repeated his appeal to the centre to widen the vaccine coverage and slammed political leaders for leading election campaign rallies and setting a wrong example.
- "This is a national crisis for God's sake. This is a war against virus. The war is against an invisible enemy. Punjab's brand ambassador for Covid - Sonu Sood - has also tested positive for Covid today. We all have to be careful because this can get out of control," Amarinder Singh said.
- "Four locations in our state were cleared for setting up oxygen plants. But the final go-ahead from the centre is awaited since last year. Just yesterday, I wrote to Union Minister Piyush Goyal about this. This is a problem," Captain Singh said.
- "Punjab's economy suffered last time when we had a lockdown in Ludhiana. We had to arrange 400 trains to send people to Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and other places. However, it's needless to say that some checks are required whether in malls, restaurants, or cinema halls. Our objective is not to harass people but to protect them. So we have done all that's possible with minimum restrictions," Captain Singh said.
- "Testing is very important and so is going to hospital at the right time to break the chain of transmission. Higher the testing, more the number of infections. We might have reported higher number of cases because we tested more people," Amarinder Singh said.
- "This new strain - UK strain - is affecting young people. I am also worried that the new wave has hit the rural regions, which were largely protected till last year," Captain Singh said.
