Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday reviewed the COVID-19 preparedness and stressed on the need to be alert, and not to panic.
Chairing a high-level meeting virtually with the states and Union Territories (UTs) virtually to access the current status and preparedness on COVID-19, the minister said, “It is time to work together in a ‘whole of government’ approach, through closely working with each other. We need to be on the alert, but there is no need to panic.”
Noting that is important to be prepared with mock drills of hospital preparedness, increased surveillance and effective communication with people, Mandaviya asked to conduct mock drill in all hospitals once every three months.
Assuring all support of the Central government, Mandaviya said, “There should be no laxity in our preparedness. Health is not an area for any politics. Union Health Ministry is available for every support.”
The minister also urged to ensure preventive measures are taken in view of the cold conditions in the winter season.
On Monday, the Health Ministry issued an advisory to States and Union Territories in view of the recent upsurge in COVID-19 cases and detection of first case of JN.1 variant in the country.
It asked the States and UTs to maintain a constant vigil on the situation besides ensuring adequate testing including higher number of RT-PCR tests, and send positive samples for genome sequencing to Indian SARS COV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) laboratories.