Amid rising cases of coronavirus across the country, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, P.K. Mishra, on Wednesday undertook a review meeting to oversee the level of preparedness and public health response to it.
According to sources in the know of things, Mishra advised officials to ensure operational readiness of hospital infrastructure till the sub-district level.
He also highlighted the need to examine the Covid-19 situation regularly and update advisories to guide the states.
Mishra also exhorted upon continuation of the ongoing time-tested strategy of Test-Track-Treat-Vaccination and adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour among the people.
A presentation was made by Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan during the meeting, where he provided an overview of the global Covid-19 situation.
He highlighted that India has been witnessing a rapid increase in the number of Covid-19 cases with the majority of cases being reported in eight states, namely Kerala, Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Rajasthan.
The Health Secretary further said that states have already been advised that they may take steps for procurement of the requisite Covid vaccine doses directly from the manufacturers at their end without any prior approvals from the Union Health Ministry.
Private hospitals in the states may also directly procure such vaccines from the manufacturer, it was informed during the meeting.
These vaccines once procured may be administered as per the existing Covid vaccination guidelines.