‘Raise vigilance, bridge booster shot gap’: PM Modi takes stock of Covid situation

Thursday's meeting took place amid a spike in some parts of the world, particularly China where large parts of the population does not have a previous exposure or adequate protection through vaccination.

States should make sure they are prepared with adequate medical resources, officials must ramp up testing and genome sequencing, people should wear masks and take precautions ahead of the festival season, and the booster doses gap must be bridged, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a high-level meeting on Thursday as the administration took stock of the Covid-19 situation.

(PIB)

The meeting comes amid a spike in some parts of the world, particularly China where large parts of the population does not have a previous exposure or adequate protection through vaccination, though experts have pointed out that there is no cause for alarm in India, where the population has significantly higher baseline immunity.

According to a statement by the government, Modi stressed on four areas of the pandemic preparedness that must be focused on.

First, he advised states to take stock of health infrastructure and logistics of essentials, such as medical oxygen and drugs. An official present in the meeting added Modi stressed on the need for the “entire Covid infrastructure at all levels” to maintain “a high level of preparedness in terms of equipment, processes and human resources”. This, the official added, citing the PM, was because the infrastructure had not been pressed to full service for many months as cases dropped when vaccination gained momentum.

Second, he cautioned against complacency, directing officials to especially strengthen surveillance at international airports and to improve genome sequencing to track which variants of the Sars-CoV-2 is spreading.

Third, he urged people “to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour at all times, especially in view of the upcoming festive season, including wearing masks in crowded public places”, the statement added.

Fourth, Modi stressed on increasing uptake of the booster, or precautionary doses, of coronavirus vaccines among elderly people and those with illnesses that make them vulnerable to Covid-19. Around 719 million of 940 million adults are yet to take boosters, according to data analysed by HT.

The last such high-level Covid review was held on November 3 when Modi took stock of the coronavirus vaccination in districts with low coverage. According to a second functionary, who asked not to be named, the PM heard the presentation and the expert views before describing the immediate tasks that needed to be focused on.

The people quoted above said that the PM may hold a meeting with chief ministers in the coming days and cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba will do regular reviews with the state bureaucracy.

“A comprehensive presentation was made regarding the global Covid-19 situation including the rising cases in countries by secretary, health (Rajesh Bhushan) and member, NITI Aayog (VK Paul). Prime Minister was briefed that India has been witnessing a steady decline in cases with average daily cases falling to 153 and weekly positivity down to 0.14% in the week ending 22nd Dec, 2022. However, 5.9 lakh (590,000) daily average cases have been reported globally since the last 6 weeks,” the statement said.

The meeting was attended by Union home minister Amit Shah, external affairs minister S Jaishankar, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, and information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur, among others.

The government functionaries assured the PM that there was adequate availability of medicines, vaccines and hospital beds, while the PM advised that the availability and prices of essential medicines be regularly monitored.

Experts said while being alert is important, there is no need for panic.

“There may be new sub-variants reported but ultimately it all boils down to virulence that can cause serve disease and death. What we have seen in India, in the past few months at least, there have been nearly no hospitalisations. It is not a panic situation; we might see a spurt here and there but I don’t think we should expect a wave or some such thing,” said Dr Rommel Tickoo, director, internal medicine department, Max Healthcare.

Tickoo drew a key distinction with India’s situation and that in China. “What is happening in China is largely due to not having natural immunity like us, and no effective vaccination. In India, there is no such concern unless we get some drastically new variant.”

Shortly after the meeting, officials disclosed a letter sent by Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan to civil aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal in which he informed that airports should carry out random Covid-19 tests on 2% of international arrivals, airlines should identify which passengers to test and for local and national disease surveillance officials to be informed of the samples taken.

“This arrangement shall come into practice with effect from 10am on Saturday, 24th of December,” the letter, seen by HT, said.