Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) confirmed cases have jumped to 1,637 in India. The death toll is 38. During the last 24 hours, 376 new confirmed cases and 3 new deaths have been reported. On the positive side, 132 persons have been cured /discharged from the hospitals after recovery.
The prevention, containment and management of COVID-19 in the country are being regularly monitored at the highest level and various actions have been initiated in collaboration by Government of India along with the States/UTs.
Union Cabinet Secretary has directed all the States/UTs to coordinate and manage the situation of migrant workers in ensuring lockdown measures are being followed. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare had also issued an advisory for proper quarantine and psycho-social measures for migrant workers on March 31, 2020, which is available at https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/RevisedPsychosocialissuesofmigrantsCOVID19.pdf.
Under the orders of the Supreme Court, States have been directed that trained counsellors and/or community group leaders of all religions will visit and provide psycho-social support to the migrants at relief camps. As directed by the Supreme Court, for technical queries, the Ministry of Health has provided an email (technicalquery.covid19@gov.in) which will provide authentic technical information to queries from institutions like AIIMS, New Delhi. All the technical guidelines are also available on website of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (https://www.mohfw.gov.in/). Toll Free number (1075) and helpline email id (ncov2019@gov.in) for COVID-19 related queries have been operational for some time, according to a PIB release.
In addition, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has notified that all 24 classes of medical devices shall be regulated as drugs for quality control and price monitoring under the provisions of Drug (Price Control) Order 2013 with effect from April 1, 2020, to ensure that no manufacturer shall increase the MRP of these items more than beyond 10% of MRP in the last 12 months. Ministry of AYUSH has also recommended measures for self care guidelines in preventive health care that can boost immunity especially for respiratory health for the COVID-19 crisis.