NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting to assess the recent surge in Covid and influenza cases. He said Covid was far from over and asked for adherence to the five-fold strategy of test-track-treat-vaccination and following Covid-appropriate behaviour for protection, urging people to mask up in crowded places.
The PM directed officials to conduct mock drills to ensure preparedness and lab surveillance to catch the cases early and detect any new strain.
The meeting assessed the current Covid and influenza situation in the country in terms of preparedness of health infrastructure and logistics, status of the vaccination campaign, emergence of new Covid variants and influenza types and their public health implications for the country.
The review meeting comes in the backdrop of a spike in influenza cases and the rise in Covid cases in the past two weeks.
A comprehensive presentation was made at the meeting covering the global Covid situation, including the rising cases in India by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan.
The Prime Minister was briefed that India has been witnessing a slight rise in new cases with average daily cases reported as 888 and weekly positivity reported as 0.98 per cent in the week ending March 22.