No substitute for test, track, treat strategy: PM Modi
No substitute for test, track, treat strategy: PM Modi
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a high-level meeting to review the Covid-19 situation in India amid a rapid spread of infections across the country.
During the meeting, which was attended by top officials, the Prime Minister said that there is no substitute for the test, track and treat strategy when it comes to tackling the pandemic. "Early testing and proper tracking remains key to reduce mortality," he said.
Modi told the officials that India had defeated Covid last year and can do it again with the same principles but faster speed and coordination.
The Prime Minister stressed that local administrations need to be proactive and sensitive to people's concerns amid the second wave of infections. He directed that close coordination with states must be ensured in handling the pandemic.
He said that all necessary measures must be taken to ramp up the availability of hospital beds for Covid patients. This comes amid several states flagging limited availability of beds due to a surge in hospitalisations. There have also been reports of hospitals turning away patients due to lack of beds.
The Prime Minister directed that additional supply of beds through temporary hospitals and isolation centres should be ensured to tackle the issue. He also reviewed the status of supply of Remdesivir and other medicines amid a spiralling demand.
The Prime Minister was briefed on actions taken to address the issue of availability of Remdesivir, a key drug to fight Covid. "Through the efforts of the government, capacity and production augmentation for manufacturing of Remdesivir has been ramped up to provide around 74.10 lakh vials/month in May while the normal production output in January-February being just 27-29 lakh vials/month.
Supplies have also increased from 67,900 vials on 11th April going up to over 2,06,000 vials on 15th April 2021 which are being particularly focused on states with high caseload and high demand," a statement released PMO said.