India Ramps Up Covid Preparedness Amid Rising Cases

Amid rising Covid cases, India has instructed all states to ensure supply of oxygen, isolation beds, and medicines. Technical meetings led by Dr. Sunita Sharma have been held to review preparedness. Surveillance is focused on ILI and SARI, with mock drills conducted to assess facility readiness.

India is ramping up its Covid-19 preparedness as cases continue to rise, official sources revealed on Wednesday. States have been instructed to ensure the availability of key medical resources such as oxygen, isolation beds, ventilators, and essential medicines to tackle the escalating situation.

Technical review meetings led by Dr. Sunita Sharma, Director General of Health Services, were conducted on June 2 and 3. These meetings involved representatives from various central health bodies and state health departments to assess the current Covid-19 status and readiness at different levels.

As the country reported over 4,300 active cases by June 4, state and district surveillance units are actively monitoring Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI). Recommendations include testing SARI cases and a sample of ILI cases, with genomic sequencing for positive samples, to keep the spread in check.

(With inputs from agencies.)