Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a review meeting on Friday amid an increase in coronavirus cases and advised states to remain alert and be prepared for COVID-19 management.
Mandaviya emphasised identifying emergency hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases, ramping up testing and vaccination, and ensuring hospital infrastructure readiness in a virtual meeting with state health ministers and principal and additional chief secretaries.
Along with enhancing genome sequencing and ramping up whole genome sequencing of positive samples, he also emphasised the importance of raising awareness about Covid- appropriate behaviour.
Union Health Minister stated that the Centre and the states must continue to work collaboratively as they did during previous surges for COVID-19 prevention and management.
He also urged the state health ministers to conduct mock drills of all hospital infrastructure on April 10 and 11 and review the health preparedness with district administrations and health officials on April 8 and 9.
During the meeting, it was observed that 23 states and Union territories had average tests per million below the national average, according to a health ministry statement.
While Omicron and its sub-lineages remain the most predominant Variant, most of the assigned variants have little or no significant transmissibility, disease severity, or immune escape. XBB.1.16 prevalence increased from 21.6 per cent in February to 35.8 per cent in March 2023.
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