Around 40 lakh people have been kept under surveillance as part of the contact-tracing efforts in the country, Union minister Ashwini Choubey told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
The Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) is conducting contact tracing through community surveillance.
“As on 10 September, a total of about 40 lakh persons have been kept under surveillance. There are 1,697 laboratories conducting Covid- 19 testing,” he said.
The MoS for health said there were 15,290 Covid-treatment facilities with 13,14,171 dedicated isolation beds till 10 September. There are also 2,31,269 oxygen-supported isolation beds and 62,694 ICU beds (including 32,241 ventilator beds).
States are being supported in terms of supply of logistics, Choubey said.
So far, 1.39-crore PPE kits, 3.42-crore N-95 masks, 10.84crore hydroxychloroquine tablets, 29,779 ventilators and 1,02,400 oxygen cylinders have been supplied to state and central government hospitals till 10 September, he said.
More than 30 vaccine candidates have been supported and they are in different stages of development. Three candidates are in advanced stage of Phase I, II and III trials, and more than four are in advanced pre-clinical development stage.
A national expert group on vaccine administration for Covid-19 has been constituted on 7 August under the NITI Aayog. Thirteen clinical trials of repurposed drugs have been undertaken to build a portfolio of therapeutic options for coronavirus patients, he said.
“The government of India has taken a series of actions to prevent, control and mitigate the impact of Covid-19. India followed a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach,” Choubey said.
The Prime Minister, a high level group of ministers (GoM), cabinet secretary, committee of secretaries and Health Ministry officials continue to monitor the public health response to Covid in the country, he said. Screening was done at 12 major and 65 minor ports and land border crossings, informed Choubey.