Political commitment at highest levels leading govt.’s response against COVID19 : Dr Vardhan

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : “Political commitment at the highest levels of the Government led by PM Narendra Modi is leading the government’s response against Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID2019). India is prepared through its various timely measures and sturdy systems of surveillance for Novel Coronavirus, stated Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Health & Family Welfare Minister, on February 13, 2020, while addressing a presser on the status update, actions taken, and preparedness on Novel Coronavirus disease in India here today.

Dr Vardhan stated that a high level Group of Ministers comprising External Affairs Minister, Minister for Civil Aviation, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Minister of State for Shipping, and Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare has been constituted under his Chairmanship to monitor the situation.

“We have good and effective co-ordination among ministries, robust surveillance system, network of laboratories to support diagnosis, upgraded medical facilities, trained health work force and media presence that can reach even remote areas. We have put all these resources at our disposal to prevent / contain outbreak of novel coronavirus in India,”Dr Vardhan said. In addition to the ministerial meetings, a video conference is being held every other day with the states to review their preparedness and actions. He stated that all Ministries and States have done commendable work, in particular Kerala, which has put up a sturdy system of surveillance.

Elaborating measures taken by the Government of India, Dr Vardhan said that Advisories/ Guidelines have been issued to the States on surveillance, sample collection, packaging and transportation, infection prevention and control, and clinical management. In fact, India was possibly the first country to issue a travel advisory on January 17,, 2020 itself. All these guidance documents are available on the website of MoHFW. The travel advisory is being updated as per the evolving situation, he said, according to a PIB release.

He also informed that surveillance at Points of Entry (PoE) is continuing at 21 Airports, 12 major ports, 65 minor ports, and at 6 land crossings. So far at the airports, 2, 51, 447 persons (2,315 flights) have been screened, 3 suspected cases and 161 contacts have been identified. Altogether 5,491 and 285 passengers and crew have been screened at major and minor ports respectively.  Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) is carrying out community vide surveillance of passengers travelling from China, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Japan and  15,991 persons are being followed up for a period of 28 days of which 3,058 have completed 28 days of observation period while 497 suspect cases have been isolated, Dr Vardhan added.

ICMR is providing the Laboratory support with NIV, Pune, as the nodal laboratory and 14 other network laboratories. This can be expanded to include 50 laboratories, if the situation so demands. So far 1071 samples have been tested of which 1,068 were found negative and only 3 have tested positive in Kerala. In addition, clinical samples of the 654 evacuees at Manesar and ITBP camps have also been tested and all of them were found to be negative.

All the 3 positive cases from Kerala are the students from Wuhan, Hubei, China. The observation started from January 28, 2020, and they were reported positive on February 3, 2020 by NIV, Pune.

He also stated that the Rapid Response Teams have been trained by the Health Ministry in all States for managing emergencies due to high risk pathogens. There is outreach to every village in the districts adjoining Nepal border through Gram Sabhas.

Dr Vardhan also informed that India evacuated 645 Indian persons from Wuhan city including 7 Maldivians, and quarantined them at 2 special quarantine camps and they are likely to be discharged once all of them test negative after a  stay of 14 days.  India has extended support to Maldives in testing samples and Bhutan in managing COVID-19. India has agreed to Support Afghanistan in testing samples. India is also extending help to China by sending essential items for combating COVID2019 in China as per commitment of the Prime Minister, he said.

Dr Vardhan reiterated that the COVID19 is highly infectious; however, the redeeming feature is that the case fatality is about 2% in mainland China and less that 0.2% outside China. Many of the epidemiological parameters of this disease are not known.