Question : Guidelines for the Possible Third Wave of Covid-19

Will the Minister of Health and Family Welfare be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has made adequate arrangements for Remdesivir injections and other essential medicines along with guidelines for the treatment of children in State/UTs keeping in view of the possible third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic;
(b) the steps taken by the Government to curb the laxity on the part of people for not adhering to COVID-19 appropriate behavior across the country;
(c) the number of cases of Delta and Delta plus variant reported across the country, State/UT-wise; and
(d) whether the virus is dominant even after vaccination and if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the steps being taken to check the spread of Delta variant?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTERY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

(a): Health is a state subject. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) is supporting States/ UTs with requisite technical support besides providing financial and logistic support to upgrade health infrastructure for managing COVID cases in children and also for addressing any surge in Paediatric COVID cases in future.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has issued “Guidelines on Operationalization of COVID Care Services for Children & Adolescents” on 14th June 2021 and“Guidelines for Management of COVID19 in Children (below 18 years)” on 18th June 2021. These guidelines were disseminated to States/ UTs followed by orientation meetings.The Operational guidelines have detailed list of drugs required for Paediatric COVID care at various levels of facilities.
A Drugs Coordination Committee (DCC) has been constituted as an institutional mechanism under Department of Pharmaceuticals for efficient decision making on all the issues with respect to COVID-19 related drugs including their availability through inter-departmental consultations.
All States/UTs and State Drugs Controllers have been requested to verify stock of drugs and check other malpractices and take effective steps to curb hoarding and black marketing of emergency drugs.
A COVID Drugs Management Cell (CDMC) has been set up in the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) to oversee the management of smooth supply of drugs used in COVID-19 management.
During the FY 2020-21, funds to the tune of Rs.8257.88 crore has been released to the States/UTs towards the India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package.
In addition, ‘India COVID-19 Emergency Response & Health System Preparedness Package: Phase-II’ has also been approved by the Cabinet with Rs 23,123 crores (with Rs. 15,000 Cr as Central Component & Rs 8,123 Cr as State component) and is to be implemented from 1st July 2021 to 31st March 2022. So far Rs. 1827.78 crore has been released to States/UTs in 2021-22 under ECRP Phase-II in FY 2021-22.
It includes support to State/UT level for ramping up Health Infrastructure including those in rural, tribal and peri-urban areas closer to the community, providing support for procurement of drugs and diagnostics to enhance service delivery at district and sub district levels for management of COVID-19 cases (including pediatric care) and for maintaining a buffer of drugs, support for IT Interventions such as implementation of Hospital Management Information System and expanding access to tele-consultations in all districts, and support for capacity building and training for all aspects of management of COVID-19.
Under the National COVID Vaccination Program, Government of India is procuring vaccines and providing them free of cost to States and UTs. As on 5th August 2021, a total of about 48.93 crore doses have been supplied to States/UTs from all sources i.e. Government of India’s COVID vaccine supply free of cost to all States/UTs, State/UTs and Private Hospitals procured COVID vaccine.
(b): Ministry of Health and Welfare has also issued “An Illustrated Guide on COVID Appropriate Behaviour” and several other materials are placed on Ministry website for wide circulation.
Ministry of Home affairs has issued orders from time to time under Disaster Management Act, 2005directing States/UTs governments to ensure adherence to COVID appropriate behavior as part of National directives for COVID-19 management.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also shared various IEC materials including Paediatric COVID Care with States/ UTs to generate awareness on COVID-19 appropriate behavior.
(c) and (d): As on 04th August 2021, total of 83 cases of delta plus variant have been reported in India, State/ UT wise detail is placed at Annexure.

(e):To monitor the variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus, initially genomic sequencing was conducted through National Institute of Virology, Pune. Subsequently, Government of India established Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortium (INSACOG) in December 2020 as a consortium of 10 laboratories of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Dept. of Biotechnology, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The network of INSACOG laboratories has since been increased to 28.
While monitoring the prevalence of variants through the network of labs, as per advice from experts it is noted that the public health measures to manage the Pandemic in the field and the treatment protocol remain the same and the five-fold strategy of test-track-treat-vaccinate and COVID appropriate behavior is to be followed at the field level.