Union Health Minister Meets States’ Health Ministers Regarding Covid
Delhi, 23rd December 2022: Corona virus cases are increasing rapidly in many countries of the world, including China, Japan, South Korea, France and America. In view of the increasing cases, the Government of India has also come on alert mode. On Friday, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya held a meeting with the health ministers of the states on the status and preparedness of to combat Covid-19.
Union Health Minister Dr Mandaviya advised the states to be vigilant and keep all preparedness in place for COVID-19 management. He said that to defeat Corona, the Center and the States need to work in a cooperative spirit. He said that all the states should strengthen the monitoring system, speed up Covid tests and ensure preparedness of hospital infrastructure.
The Union Health Minister emphasized on the importance of being prepared and vigilant against the new and emerging variant of COVID-19, especially in view of the upcoming festive season. The Union Minister underlined that COVID is not over yet. In view of this, he directed the officers to be fully prepared and strengthen surveillance.
He urged the people to follow Covid-appropriate behavior and get vaccinated for Covid. A new and highly transmissible Omicron variant, BF.7, has been found to be behind the massive surge of COVID infections in China.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has asked all the States and Union Territories to take precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Health Ministry has asked to focus on ‘Test-Track-Treat and Vaccination,’ keeping in mind the upcoming festive season and New Year celebrations. He appealed to the people to wear masks, maintain hand hygiene and social distancing.
States/UTs have been requested to send samples of all COVID-19 infected cases to INSACOG Genome Sequencing Laboratory (IGSL) on a daily basis for sequencing to detect new variants, if any.
