Mock drill in hospitals to check preparedness to deal with Covid

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: As per the Union Health Ministry’s direction, mock drills will be conducted at government hospitals to ensure that all infrastructure installed during earlier waves of COVID-19 including Oxygen plants and Oxygen generators are ready for use, Karnataka Health Minister Dr. K Sudhakar said.

Speaking to the media after participating in a video conference of the health ministers of all states conducted by the Union Health Minister, he said 5 lakh to 6 lakh new COVID-19 cases are being detected in the world every day.

Eighty percent of the new cases are appearing in 10 countries including China, Japan, Taiwan, America, European nations and New Zealand. All states were informed in the meeting about how COVID-19 is on the rise in different countries for the last three months. At present, the number of active cases in India is 0.03%.

A major reason for this is that the entire population has received two doses of the vaccine. Additionally, Indians also have better natural immunity. Due to this, they are in a better position to fight the spread of COVID-19. According to a report by an American organization, around 10 lakh people could potentially die from COVID-19 in China alone in the next year.

China’s vaccines, vaccination process, people’s cautiousness, the senior/elderly population, and their health problems could be the reasons for this, the minister said. According to the ‘R-value of the new Coronavirus variant strain BF07, it is capable of spreading from one person to 17-18 people. So it is highly contagious.

The Union Health Ministry has also suggested stepping up testing and surveillance measures. There is a stock of 8 to 10 lakh vaccines in the state and people are advised to take them voluntarily. Positive cases will be sent for compulsory genomic sequencing to track new variants. Booster doses will be given to senior citizens on priority.

Two percent of international passengers are being randomly tested at airports. It has been suggested that the process of international passengers uploading negative RTPCR certificates not older than 72 hours from the date of travel through Air Suvidha should be restarted.

People should take all precautionary measures including wearing masks. The Minister said that it is better to postpone public celebrations where a lot of people gather including New Year events for a few days.