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Amid an exponential rise in the cases triggered by the delta and omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will chair a virtual meeting with the health ministers of five states and a Union Territory tomorrow to review the coronavirus scenario.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a high-level meeting to review the coronavirus situation in India, ongoing preparedness of health infrastructure and logistics, status of the vaccination campaign in the country and the public health implications of the new strain Omicron.
The meeting was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Bharati Pravin Pawar, Member (Health) NITI Aayog Dr VK Paul, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Home Secretary AK Bhalla, Secretary (MoHFW) and Secretary (Pharmaceuticals) Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary (Biotechnology) Dr Rajesh Gokhale, DG ICMR Dr Balram Bhargava, CEO of National Health Authority RS Sharma, along with other senior officials.
PM Modi today called for ensuring adequate health infrastructure at district level and accelerating the vaccination drive for adolescents in mission mode.
Noting that the coronavirus has been evolving continuously, PM Modi underlined the need for continuous scientific research in testing and vaccines besides pharmacological interventions, including genome sequencing, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.
Highlighting the need to ensure effective usage of masks and physical distancing measures as a new normal to control the spread of Covid, PM Modi called for effective implementation of home isolation for mild and asymptomatic cases and to disseminate the factual information to the community at large.
The PM said a meeting with chief ministers be convened to discuss state-specific scenarios, best-practices and public health response, the PMO added.
This meeting comes as the country reported more than 1.5 lakh new COVID-19 cases on Sunday and the case tally of the Omicron variant of the virus reached 3,623 in the country.
India reported 1,59,632 new coronavirus cases in a span of 24 hours, taking the daily positivity rate in the country to 10.21%, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare today.
Of 3,623 Omicron cases, Maharashtra tops the chart with 1,009 cases, followed by Delhi (513) and Karnataka (441).
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