India will fight pandemic with caution, vigilance: PM
New Delhi, Jan 01: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said India will fight the Covid-19 pandemic with full caution and vigilance, and protect its national interests.
Speaking at a virtual event to release funds under the PM-KISAN scheme, PM Modi also highlighted the achievements made by the country in 2021 across various sectors, including, health, defence and agriculture, a report said.
He also praised India’s achievement in providing over 145 crore doses of Covid vaccine. The Prime Minister said coronavirus posed several challenges, but “Corona cannot stop India’s pace”.
He stressed that India will fight the COVID-19 pandemic with “full caution and vigilance” and will also protect its national interests.
Meanwhile, amidst the steep hike in the Covid cases,the Centre on Saturday issued an advisory to states to check the spread of coronavirus infections in the country. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all states and UTs directed them to take measures to deal with the increase in coronavirus cases.
In the letter to chief secretaries of all States/UTs, the health secretary advised states to initiate the process of setting up temporary hospitals and constitute control rooms to monitor cases.
The states/UTs have been advised to set up control rooms at district/sub-district level and revisit the Covid dedicated health infrastructure.
“With a sudden increase in cases, we may start seeing a stressed healthcare infrastructure. Make-shift hospitals should be made at field level, district level surveillance should be activated,” the letter stated.
On December 31, India recorded the highest single-day spike in 70 days with 16,764 Covid-19 cases.
On Friday, Rajesh Bhushan and ICMR Chief Balram Bhargava asked all states and UTs to set up round-the-clock Rapid Antigen Test booths at different locations, engage medical and paramedical staff, and encourage the use of home test kits for symptomatic individuals.
