Amid surge in COVID-19 cases, mock drills were conducted on Monday at several hospitals across the country to check COVID-19 preparedness.

Government as well as private hospitals undertook the mock drills and state health ministers reviewed the drills in their respective states and Union Territories (UTs).

The drill evoked huge nationwide response with ministers and senior officials reviewing the preparations and capacities of hospitals and facilities.

A total of 5,880 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in India in the last 24 hours, a slight increase from Sunday’s count of 5,357, according to Union Health Ministry data released on Monday.

On Friday, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who chaired a review meeting with states, called for mock drills at all hospital infrastructure on April 10 and 11 and review of the health preparedness with district administrations and health officials.

Today, Mandaviya visited Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital in the National Capital to review the mock drill underway to ensure operational readiness of the hospital for COVID-19 management.

Dr. Ajay Shukla, director and medical superintendent, RML Hospital, and heads of various departments including sanitation were present on the occasion.

In a tweet posted by him, Dr. Mandaviya can be seen visiting the facilities and interacting with staff.

While visiting the RML Hospital, Dr. Mandaviya had an informal interactive session with Heads of Departments and staff. He spent some time with the doctors, nurses, heads of security and sanitation services listening to their fruitful suggestions. The suggestions revolved around quality clinical practices, measures for infection control, hospital management, sanitation processes and patient-centric provisions.

The Union health minister has already advised states to be on alert and keep all preparedness for COVID-19 management. He has cautioned against any complacency and urged everyone to follow COVID Appropriate Behaviour.

He has also urged states to identify emerging hotspots by monitoring trends of ILI/SARI cases and send sufficient samples for testing of COVID-19 and Influenza; and ramping up whole genome sequencing of positive samples.

The Union health minister took a review meeting with the state health ministers for the COVID-19 status and preparedness of prevention and management in the country a few days back. It was decided that mock drills be conducted across the country to ensure preparedness for any future outbreaks, if any.

Mock drills were also held in Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Goa to check COVID-19 preparedness.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian inspected the drill for emergency response for handling Covid-19 at Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital in Chennai. Talking to a news agency, he said, “We have 350 or fewer COVID-19 infection cases in Tamil Nadu and no need to fear in our state as of now. We predict that the 4th wave will be a mild effect compared to the third wave.”

Meanwhile, in Haryana’s Jhajjar, a Covid-19 preparedness drill was conducted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

A mock drill was organised to review and ensure the proper arrangements for the treatment of COVID-19 patients in Madhya Pradesh as the state witnessed a continuous surge in the number of patients.

Following the instructions of the Central government, the Health Department conducted mock drills in the major cities of the states and reviewed the arrangements of the hospitals today. According to the state health bulletin, there are a total of 170 active cases in the state with 32 new cases reported in the last 24 hours.

In a bid to check Covid effectiveness, the Bihar Health Department has conducted mock drills in hospitals across the state. During the drills, authorities checked the status of equipment including beds, ventilators, ambulance services, availability of oxygen cylinders and medicines. The development comes amid a surge in fresh Covid cases in Bihar. On Sunday, the state reported 42 cases, including 14 in Patna.

Amid a surge in new cases, Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Monday said there was no need to panic unnecessarily over the Covid situation in the state. Although around 100 cases are reported everyday on an average, the Minister said “there was no need to panic unnecessarily. We are following protocol laid down by the Central government. Our infrastructure is in place. People should take precaution and care”.

He was speaking after a mock drill was conducted earlier in the day across government and private hospitals to review the Covid preparedness.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Gurugram, Nishant Kumar Yadav inspected a mock drill at three health institutions in Gurugram in a bid to check Covid-19 preparedness. On the first day of the two-day mock drill, centres were set up at ESI Hospital Sector-9, Civil Hospital and SGT Medical College in Gurugram.

Health officials said the mock drill will be conducted in the private hospitals in Gurugram on Tuesday.