Soren reviews Jharkhand's COVID preparedness

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Monday convened a meeting with top health officials to review the state's COVID preparedness.

Soren directed the officials for advance planning to deal with the new BF.7 sub-variant of Omicron and focus on five-fold strategy of test-track-treat-vaccination and adherence to COVID-appropriate behaviour.

He also asked the officials to prepare the hospitals and ensure adequate availability of beds including those supported with oxygen supply, besides medicines and oxygen cylinders.

The CM directed the officials to keep vigil at airports, railway stations, bus stands and bordering areas of the state.

Several countries including China, USA and Japan are witnessing a surge in COVID-19 infection, which is believed to be driven by the BF.7 variant.

The health officials informed Soren that there is only one active case of COVID-19 in the state at present.

In Jharkhand, as many as 4,42,568 people got infected with the disease since its outbreak in 2020, while 4,37,236 have recovered. A total of 5,331 people died due to the infection to date, the officials told the chief minister.

State Health Minister Banna Gupta said, ''People of the state should not worry about the situation, as the state government is fully prepared to tackle it.'' A total of 19,535 beds including 11,356 oxygen supported are available in government hospitals. Besides, the state has eight operational RT-PCR laboratories and an additional 19 will soon be functional after approval from the ICMR, he said.

The health minister said that 122 PSA oxygen generating plants have been established in the state.

Even though no decision on making it mandatory to wear masks and adhere to social distancing was taken, people should take precautionary measures for their protection, he said.

''We are conducting thermal scanning at places suggested by the chief minister. If any symptomatic person is found, he or she will be admitted to Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) and treated,'' Gupta added.