ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)
(a) & (f): Government of India has taken a series of actions to prevent, control and mitigate the impact of COVID-19. India followed a whole of Government and whole of society approach. Hon’ble Prime Minister, a High level Group of Ministers (GoM), Cabinet Secretary, Committee of Secretaries and senior officers in MoHFW continue to monitor public health response to COVID-19 in the country.
The public health actions were taken in a pre-emptive, pro-active, graded manner based on the evolving scenario. A number of travel advisories were issued restricting inflow of international travelers, till such time, commercial flights were suspended on 23rd March, 2020. Till then, a total of 14,154 flights with 15,24,266 passengers have been screened at these airports. Screening was also done at 12 major and 65 minor ports and land border crossings. In the initial part of the pandemic, India evacuated a large number of stranded passengers from then COVID affected countries (China, Italy, Iran, Japan, Malaysia) and again in the un-lockdown phase, a total of 13,18,891 passengers have been brought back (as on 14th September, 2020) and followed up.
Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) is conducting contact tracing through community surveillance. In the earlier part of the pandemic, this was done for travel related cases and subsequently for cases being reported from community as a part of containment strategy. As on 14th September 2020, a total of about 40 lakh persons have been kept under surveillance. There are 726 laboratories conducting COVID-19 Testing. India is testing is about 1 million samples a day. A total of 5.8 crore samples have been tested so far (as on 14th September 2020).
Guidelines on Clinical management of COVID-19 have been issued and are being updated regularly.
States are being supported in terms of supply of logistics. So far 3.44 crores N-95 masks, 10.84 crore tablets of Hydroxychloroquine and 30,663 ventilators and 1,02,400 oxygen cylinders have been supplied to States/UTs/ Central Government hospitals so far (as on 14th September, 2020).
Various cadres of personnel and volunteers across sectors and departments for COVID related works and maintenance of other essential medical services have been worked out, trained through resources made available on the website of MoHFW, iGOT (online platform) by DOPT (https://igot.gov.in/igot/).
MoHFW website is being daily to provide general public with information on current status of COVID-19 spread in India. Communication material is also being hosted on MoHFW website and through social media. A dedicated call centre / helpline (1075) has been started to guide community at large which are being used by the citizens very effectively and on a regular basis.
More than 30 vaccine candidates have been supported which are in different stages of development, 3 candidates are in advanced stage of Phase I/II/III trials and more than 4 are in advanced pre-clinical development stage. A National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 has been constituted on 7th August, 2020, under NITI Ayog. Thirteen clinical trials of repurposed drugs have been undertaken to build a portfolio of therapeutic options for Covid-19 patients.
(b): For appropriate management of COVID-19 cases, a three tier arrangement of health facilities [(i) COVID Care Center with isolation beds for mild or pre-symptomatic cases; (ii) Dedicated COVID Health Centre (DCHC) with oxygen supported isolation beds for moderate cases and (iii) Dedicated COVID Hospital (DCH) with ICU beds for severe cases] has been implemented. Tertiary care hospitals under ESIC, Defence, Railways, paramilitary forces, Steel Ministry etc. have been leveraged for case management. In addition, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has set up large field hospitals with capacities ranging from 1000 to 10,000 isolation beds.
(c): Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India has placed total orders for 1.92 crore Personal Protective Equipment Kits (PPEs). As on 14th September, 2020 a total of 1.21 Crore PPEs have been distributed to States/UTs. In addition 19.5 lakh PPEs have been provided to Central Government Hospitals/Institutions.
(d): State/UT wise details of number COVID-19 laboratories are at Annexure I.
(e): State/UT wise details of number Dedicated COVID Hospitals, Dedicated COVID Health Centers and COVID Care Centers (Government / private) are at Annexure II.
(f): Replied in answer to Question (a)
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