Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare today chaired a meeting with the key experts and officials in view of an upsurge of COVID-19 cases in some states. Dr Bharati Praveen Pawar, MOS (HFW) and Dr. V K Paul, Member, NITI Aayog were also present during the meeting.

Shri Lav Agarwal, JS (MoHFW) made a detailed presentation on global scenario of surge in COVID cases and status of COVID in the country. This included presentation and analysis of trend of covid-19 cases; daily & active cases, positivity and deaths; testing status along with state-wise weekly tests per million, RT-PCR share in weekly tests; genome sequencing; and vaccination status.

Union Health Minister stressed on the need to focus on districts reporting high case positivity & undertake adequate testing (with higher proportion of RTPCR) & effective Covid-19 surveillance to assess and control the spread of infection in a timely manner. Dr. Mandaviya directed the officials to continue to focus on surveillance and on Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) to scan for any possible mutation. He also directed for monitoring hospitalizations due to COVID19, and SARI/ILI cases.

He exhorted to increase pace of vaccination including booster doses in districts reporting high cases. “As there is adequate vaccine doses available, let there be no vaccine wastage while focusing on accelerating vaccination among the eligible and vulnerable groups”, he directed.

The meeting was attended by Dr. Ajay K Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Govt, Dr Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, DBT; Dr Balram Bhargava, DG, ICMR; Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, AYUSH; Dr Manohar Agnani, AS & MD, Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS; Dr. N K Arora, Head of COVID Task Group, NTAGI, Dr Sujeet Singh, Director, NCDC, and other senior officials of the Health Ministry were present in the meeting.