PremiumNew Delhi: Amid swelling cases of covid-19 in the northeastern states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday emphasised on the need for setting up temporary hospitals in the region and monitoring mutant strains of the virus.
Modi was interacting with chief ministers of Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Assam to take stock of the covid-19 situation in the northeast. The prime minister asked the CMs to prepare trained manpower as oxygen plants, new machines reach block level hospitals.
Expressing concern over the growing number of cases in some districts, Modi stressed the need to take strict actions at the micro-level. “There should be use of micro containment protocol in dealing with the situation making full use of the experience and best practices gathered over the last one and half years in this regard," said the prime minister.
The Prime Minister also advised strict monitoring of the mutation and keeping track of all variants. “Experts are studying the mutations and their impact. In such a scenario, prevention and treatment are critical with covid appropriate behaviour. Utility of physical distancing, mask, vaccine is clear. Similarly, strategy of testing tracking and treatment is a proven strategy," said Modi.
Modi said in the ‘vaccine for all-free for all’ campaign of the central government, northeast held equal importance. He asked the CMs to accelerate vaccination drive in areas where the virus is expected to spread.
Referring to the recent Cabinet approval of ₹23000 crore package for improving the infrastructure for testing and treatment, the Prime Minister said that the package will help in strengthening the health infrastructure of northeast. “This package will expedite testing, diagnostics, genome sequencing in northeast. There is a need to quickly increase the number of beds, oxygen facilities and paediatric care infrastructure in the Northeast. Hundreds of oxygen plants are being established in the country through PM-CARES and Northeast too got about 150 plants," said Modi requesting the chief ministers to complete the process of establishing these plants quickly.
Noting the capacity of 20 lakh tests per day in the country, the Prime Minister also highlighted the need to augment testing infrastructure in the affected district on priority. “Aggressive testing should be along with random testing," said Modi.
Acknowledging the impact of pandemic on tourism and business, the Prime Minister strongly cautioned against crowding at hill stations without proper precautions. Rejecting the argument that people want to enjoy before the arrival of the third wave, he said “The main question in our mind should be how to prevent the third wave. Experts are repeatedly warning against carelessness and crowding as they can lead to massive surge in cases. Crowding should be avoided."
The chief ministers briefed him about the progress of vaccination in their states and steps that are being taken to take vaccines to far-flung areas. They also discussed the issue of vaccine hesitancy and measures being taken to overcome it. They gave an account of improvement in medical infrastructure to better tackle Covid cases and the support lent through the PM CARES Fund. They also assured the PM of actions taken to bring down the positivity rate in their states.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah also spoke about the reduction in the overall daily number of cases but forewarned that people not become lax or let their guard down.
“Some areas of the country are witnessing high positivity rates. Testing, tracing, tracking and vaccination remain important," said Shah.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan gave an overview of the Covid cases in the country and discussed the high positivity rate in some North-East states. He also briefed about the steps taken to boost supply of medical oxygen and also gave an overview of the progress of vaccination.
According to the union health ministry, around 80% new covid-19 cases in India are being reported from 90 districts which include 14 districts in northeastern states.
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