The 18th meeting of the Group of Ministers on COVID19 was briefed about the situation in the country
Eight states (Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat) contribute to around 90% of the active COVID19 caseload. 49 districts account for 80% of active caseload, as of today. Six states (Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) account for 86% of total deaths, and 32 districts account for 80% deaths.
These data were shared on Thursday during a meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 was held under the chairpersonship of health minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan. The meeting, the 18th of the group was held via video-conference, here today. He was joined by Dr. S. Jaishankar, Union Foreign Minister, Hardeep S. Puri, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State, Health & Family Welfare, and Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State, Chemical and Fertilizers, & Shipping. Dr. Vinod Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog joined the meeting through video conference link.
At the outset, the GoM was briefed on the current status of COVID-19 in India.
The global comparison between the five most affected countries clearly depicted that India has one of the lowest cases per million (538) and deaths per million (15) compared the global average of 1453 and 68.7, respectively.
There are total 3914 facilities in the country with 3,77,737 Isolation beds (without ICU support), 39,820 ICU beds and 1,42,415 oxygen supported beds along with 20,047 ventilators
As on today, there are total 3914 facilities in the country with 3,77,737 Isolation beds (without ICU support), 39,820 ICU beds and 1,42,415 oxygen supported beds along with 20,047 ventilators. In terms of healthcare logistics, cumulatively 213.55 lakh N95 masks, 120.94 lakh PPEs and 612.57 lakh HCQ tablets have been distributed.
Dr Harsh Vardhan said: “as we move forward, our focus shall be on the management of
COVID-19 through strict containment measures and surveillance; utilizing full testing capacity; focus on monitoring of co-morbid and elderly population; predicting emerging hotspots leveraging digital tools such as Aarogya Setu; ensuring seamless patient admission processes; focus on infrastructure preparedness (critical care beds, oxygen, ventilators and logistics).”
Dr. Sujeet K Singh, Director (National Centre for Disease Control) presented a detailed report on surveillance efforts undertaken in India during the pandemic. The focus was on strict containment strategy and surveillance through SARI/ILI cases, serological survey and increase in lab network to widen countrywide testing. The major concern areas in the country were highlighted and the measures to be taken were listed including timely clinical management along with testing and surveillance in the high risk population with co-morbidities to reduce the Case Fatality Ratio.
In a detailed presentation by Amit Khare, Chairman of Empowered Group-8 (on
Information, Communication and Public Awareness), the GoM was briefed on the key steps
taken in Communication of Information and in raising public awareness. The group received
6,755 alerts of fake news out of which 5,890 were replied to directly and rebuttals were
published to 17 foreign media stories. The group also coordinated the issue of 98 daily COVID- 19 bulletins, 92 media briefings and 2,482 press releases.
