Centre asks UTs to augment hospital infrastructure for 3 weeks
Union home and health secretaries Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday reviewed the Covid-19 situation at a meeting with chief secretaries of Union Territories (UTs) via videoconferencing and asked them to augment the testing and hospital infrastructure in advance for the next three weeks.
Dr VK Paul, member (health), NITI Aayog, Dr Balram Bhargava, director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, and chiefs of police of the UTs also attended the meeting.
Bhalla cited the steep growth in the number of Covid-19 cases across the country. The new cases have almost doubled from 13,10,00 on April 9 to 27,30,00 on April 20, according to a Press Information Bureau statement.
Representatives of Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Lakshadweep pointed to the rise in cases due to a large number of inbound travellers. Lakshadweep has reported a sudden spike after April 14 primarily due to the travel of a large number of people to the mainland. Most UTs have imposed movement restrictions, including night curfews.
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Chandigarh’s representative said they were conducting door-to-door counselling for increasing vaccination coverage and that 90% of the Covid-19 patients were under home isolation and being monitored in the city.
The statement said Delhi’s representative raised the issue of the shortage of hospital beds and the efforts to augment their capacity with the central government’s support. “Delhi government expressed gratitude for the timely support of union government for augmenting their hospital beds capacity, during last year and this year. Their efforts to ramp up testing and reduce the turnaround time for the test results were also outlined,” it said.
Bhalla urged constant vigilance and advised the UTs to increase RT-PCR testing along with the use of Rapid Antigen Testing. Urgent review of clinical management was strongly recommended along with ramping up testing and hospital infrastructure, the statement said.
Union home and health secretaries Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday reviewed the Covid-19 situation at a meeting with chief secretaries of Union Territories (UTs) via videoconferencing and asked them to augment the testing and hospital infrastructure in advance for the next three weeks.
Dr VK Paul, member (health), NITI Aayog, Dr Balram Bhargava, director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, and chiefs of police of the UTs also attended the meeting.
Bhalla cited the steep growth in the number of Covid-19 cases across the country. The new cases have almost doubled from 13,10,00 on April 9 to 27,30,00 on April 20, according to a Press Information Bureau statement.
Representatives of Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Lakshadweep pointed to the rise in cases due to a large number of inbound travellers. Lakshadweep has reported a sudden spike after April 14 primarily due to the travel of a large number of people to the mainland. Most UTs have imposed movement restrictions, including night curfews.
Also Read | ‘Delhi belongs to you’: L-G urges migrants to not leave Capital during lockdown
Chandigarh’s representative said they were conducting door-to-door counselling for increasing vaccination coverage and that 90% of the Covid-19 patients were under home isolation and being monitored in the city.
The statement said Delhi’s representative raised the issue of the shortage of hospital beds and the efforts to augment their capacity with the central government’s support. “Delhi government expressed gratitude for the timely support of union government for augmenting their hospital beds capacity, during last year and this year. Their efforts to ramp up testing and reduce the turnaround time for the test results were also outlined,” it said.
Bhalla urged constant vigilance and advised the UTs to increase RT-PCR testing along with the use of Rapid Antigen Testing. Urgent review of clinical management was strongly recommended along with ramping up testing and hospital infrastructure, the statement said.