Mandaviya asks states to ramp up tests, share timely vax data at Covid review meet

According to news agency ANI, Mandaviya also appealed to the states/UTs to monitor people who are opting for home isolation as per national Covid-19 guidelines.

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday held a meeting with representatives of nine states and Union territories wherein he asked the latter to ramp up testing for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and share updated data on vaccination with the Centre.

The country is battling a third wave of the pandemic with cases seeing a declining trend over the past few days. (File Photo/ Representational image)

The country is battling a third wave of the pandemic with cases seeing a declining trend over the past few days.

Mandaviya held a virtual interaction with his counterparts in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Ladakh, Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh.

As part of the meeting, Mandaviya reviewed public health preparedness towards the pandemic and vaccination coverage in the nine states/UTs. He called for focussing on tele-consultation facilities like eSanjeevani and efficient monitoring of those in home isolation.

Mandaviya has been holding periodic review meetings with various states and UTs to take stock of the pandemic situation across the country and share necessary advice and assistance to battle the latest resurgence in cases.

In his earlier meeting, Mandaviya had interacted with the health ministers and principal secretaries of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman Diu.

At the meeting, he had advised them to review the strengthening of health infrastructure, establish teleconsultation hubs in every district and focus on raising awareness on available services.

India reported 2,55,874 cases of the Covid-19 infection in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative tally of infections in the country to 3,97,99,202, according to Union health ministry’s updated data. The downfall in the daily caseload came five days after the country started witnessing cases crossing the three-lakh mark.

The ministry said active cases have decreased to 22,36,842 and comprise 5.62 per cent of the total infections. The death toll climbed to 4,90,462 with 614 fresh fatalities, the data further showed.