United News of India
New Delhi, Apr 24: India’s efforts in tackling Covid-19 has saved the country from going into stage three of the outbreak, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan claimed on Friday.
He stated that the positive cases of Covid-19 were stable at around four per cent of the total samples tested
and the mortality rate was at three per cent while recovery rate more than 20 per cent.
Congratulating all the state heath ministers for keeping the situation under control in the fight against Covid-19 in their respective states and UTs, Dr Harsh Vardhan in a video conference said, “We know the whereabouts of our enemy and with proper, graded and guided response we are in a position to overcome it.”
The minister asked state governments to keep up vigil on the pandemic.
“The fight against the pandemic is now more than three-and-half months old and the prevention, containment and management of COVID-19 in the country is being monitored at the highest level in collaboration with the states,” he said.
The meeting which saw participation from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka,Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Uttarakhand.
At the same time, he exhorted all the ministers to ensure that non-COVID patients are not neglected.
“While we are providing treatment and care to the COVID-19 patients, we also need to ensure treatment for the non-COVID-19 patients, who are suffering from critical ailments such as respiratory or heart disease, those requiring dialysis, those that require blood transfusion and pregnant mothers. We should not turn them away on any kind of flimsy pretexts as these critical procedures can’t wait,” he said.He also stressed upon the States/UTs about the need to promote voluntary blood donation and urged them to keep themselves prepared for other vector-borne diseases such as Malaria, Dengue and TB which should not be ignored in the present circumstances.
He informed that teams of technical officers had been sent for “handholding, reviewing the situation in the states and helping in day-to-day fight against COVID-19.
On the issue of anti-body tests, he said, “The results of the test vary from place to place and it can’t be relied upon. Moreover, WHO has also not commented on its accuracy. The ICMR is reviewing the efficacy of the test and the kits in its own labs and shall come out with fresh guidelines soon.”
