Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at parliament house, New Delhi, to attend the first day of the budget session, January 29, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Adnan Abidi
- On the evening of December 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting in New Delhi on the country’s COVID-19 preparedness.
- Among other measures, Prime Minister Modi asked officials to see to it that “a good number of positive samples are sent for genome-sequencing in a prompt manner”.
- Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also chaired a meeting on the city’s response, and said they were preparing for a worst-case scenario of 1 lakh new cases per day.
New Delhi: On the evening of December 23, a few hours after addressing a big rally at Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting in New Delhi on the country’s COVID-19 preparedness.
The meeting was attended by top officials of the health department and of the Union home ministry, the departments of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and urban development, the Ministry of AYUSH and some others.
It lasted for more than two hours. Modi asked officials present to ensure that health systems were in place until the level of districts to meet any challenges the spread of the omicron variant may pose, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Thus far, India has recorded 236 cases of the omicron variant.
Prime Minister Modi also asked officials to see to it that “a good number of positive samples are sent for genome-sequencing in a prompt manner,” for researchers to be able to track the prevalence of the variant and help health officials respond accordingly. He also said disease surveillance should be ramped up in parallel, with a focus on tracing the contacts of those who test positive.
The statement also said that Modi “directed states … to ensure that the eligible population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and to proceed to meet the target in a saturation mode” (sic).
This target is to fully vaccinate the eligible population against COVID-19 by the end of this year.
Earlier in the day, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan had reviewed preparedness with representatives from the states. The states with imminent elections, including Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, were asked to “exponentially ramp up [the pace of] vaccination”, especially in districts where coverage continues to be low.
He also advised states to impose night curfews ahead of Christmas and New Year’s festivities, among others. The Madhya Pradesh government has already announced just such a move. A day earlier, the Delhi government announced a ban on gatherings.
Bhushan said states should increase testing, with PCR tests accounting for at least 60% of all tests conducted. And should the test positivity rate – the fraction of tests that return a ‘positive’ against the total number of tests – in any state cross 10%, it should consider enforcing containment measures.
Kejriwal’s meeting
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also held a meeting with officials in the wake of a rising case load in the national capital. Since December 19, the city has been reporting more than 100 new cases a day, with 118 reported on December 23.
Kejriwal said after that the Delhi government was making preparations to handle a potential outbreak of the omicron variant leading to 1 lakh new cases a day. During the country’s second major COVID-19 outbreak in April-May this year, Delhi reported 26,000 new cases a day at its highest.
The item most in need then that was also very hard to find was liquid medical oxygen. To this end, the city is procuring 15 tankers to transport the fluid, he said.
Since the omicron variant is known to be more transmissible, Kejriwal added, his government is also arranging for health workers to conduct 3 lakh tests a day in Delhi – up from the current 60,000 per day.
He also advised people to not to rush to hospitals unless the disease is severe, and that the government is improving “home isolation management” on the assumption that the omicron variant causes milder disease than the delta variant. According to him, “1,000 teams” will make home visits to those being treated at home. Members of these teams will give patients a medical kit, including some medicines and pulse oximeters.
“If we need to hire agencies for home visits, we will,” Kejriwal added.