Key Points
The Health Ministry on Saturday warned that at a time when the country was registering a sustained increase in the trajectory of COVID-19 cases (since mid-February) in some States, COVID-19 testing had declined..
In its advisory, the Ministry said that testing at the level of districts and blocks also varied, with some States heavily relying on the less sensitive rapid antigen tests...
The Ministry has directed the States to take stock of hospital preparedness including drugs, beds including lCU beds, medical equipment, medical oxygen, capacity building of human resources on existing guidelines, as well as vaccination coverage...
Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in the advisory, said thatwhile the rates of hospitalisation and death due to the disease remained low largely because of the significant coverage achieved in terms of COVID-19 vaccination rates by all States/ UTs, this gradual rise in cases needed reinvigorated public health actions to contain the surge...
While this may present a clinical dilemma for the attending doctors in terms of diagnosis, this also renders both these diseases easily preventable by following simple public health measures like avoiding overcrowded and poorly ventilated settings, using handkerchief/ tissue while sneezing or coughing, wearing a mask in crowded and closed settings, maintaining hand hygiene, avoiding spitting in public places etc., said the Ministry..
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