New Delhi [India]: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting to review the status of COVID-19 and Omicron variant and directed officials to ensure that the health systems in the states are strengthened to meet any challenge posed by the new variant. The Prime Minister passed the necessary direction with regards to COVID-19 and Omicron after chairing a high-level review meeting on the issue. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, PM Modi directed the officials to ensure that the health systems in the states, beginning from the district level, are strengthened to meet any challenge posed by the new variant. “It is important for States to ensure that the Oxygen supply equipments are installed and fully functional,” said PM Modi “He directed the officials to work with the states on a regular basis and review the status of preparedness of various components of health infrastructure including training and capacity building of human resources, timely availability of ambulances, readiness of states to operationalise COVID facilities for institutional quarantining, and effective and supervised monitoring of those in home isolation,” reads the official statement. PM Modi directed for sending a good number of positive samples for genome sequencing to INSACOG Labs in a prompt manner. He also directed for accelerating the testing to ensure quick identification of cases for timely containment and treatment. The focus should also be on effective contact tracing for curbing spread of the transmission, he stated. The meeting was attended by Cabinet Secretary, Dr. V.K.Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, A K Bhalla, Home Secretary, Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary (MoHFW), Secretary (Pharmaceuticals); Dr. Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary (Biotechnology); Dr. Balram Bhargava, DG ICMR; Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary (AYUSH); Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary (Urban Development); R.S. Sharma CEO NHA; Prof. K. Vijay Raghavan (Principal Scientific Advisor to Govt. of India) along with other senior officials.
