Vaccines to all adults by end of the year: Dr. Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi, 19 May (HS): The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday today interacted with State Health Ministers and Principal Secretaries of West Bengal and the eight States of the North-eastern Region to review the situation amid spread of pandemic Covid-19. The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Ashwini Kumar Choubey was also present during the meeting. The meeting was organized as these states are depicting a higher growth rate in the number of daily cases, high mortality and increasing positivity rate.

The Chief Minister & Health Minister of Tripura, Biplab Kumar Deb and other Ministers from different States including Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Sikkim were present virtually in this meeting.

During the virtual meeting, Dr. Vardhan applauded the dedication and patience shown by state administrations in their fight against the pandemic and in simultaneously ensuring the welfare of the people. He said that “We fought together in 2020 and will fight together in 2021 under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister.”

Speaking of the government efforts that have resulted in this achievement, Dr. Harsh Vardhan outlined, “From having just 1 laboratory at the start of the pandemic, today there are over 2000 laboratories for testing COVID across the country. We have increased our capacity to test 25 lakh people daily. Yesterday, India achieved a historical first by testing the highest number of over 20 lakh people in a single day. This is a global record too”. He stressed on the continued need to follow COVID Appropriate Behaviour along with renewed and stringent focus on containment measures for addressing the present surge.

Underscoring the critical importance of vaccination drive, the Minister highlighted that India has achieved another landmark by crossing 18 cr doses recently. He thanked all the states and UTs for their contribution in achieving this feat. He also pointed out that, more than 1 crore doses are still in stock with the state governments. He added, “Between August to December 2021, India will have procured 216 crore vaccine doses while, by July this year, 51 crore doses will be procured.” Dr Harsh Vardhan also urged states to ensure that the healthcare workers and frontline workers are fully vaccinated, as they form the vulnerable categories. The Union Health Minister said that by the end of the year, the country will be in a position to vaccinate at least all of its adult population.

Dr Harsh Vardhan highlighted the critical challenges faced by the NE states and West Bengal: In Mizoram, all districts are showing a rise in new cases. Nagaland has shown a sharp increase in daily cases (15-20 per day to 300 per day) and weekly positivity rate (1% to 34%); there is a need to strengthen testing facilities in peri-urban and rural areas.

In Assam, Kamrup (Metropolitan) is contributing almost 45% of the daily new cases, while in Meghalaya, East Khasi Hills and Righboi are reporting sharp increases in daily cases. Manipur’s recovery rate of 78% and CFR of more than 1% was highlighted as a matter of concern. Sikkim was advised to strengthen community surveillance and ensure strict monitoring of home quarantine to address its high CFR. In Arunachal Pradesh, ICU occupancy is almost 22.5% while Capital complex and Changlang districts are reporting maximum cases.

All districts of West Bengal are showing a steep increase in positivity rate. Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Nadia were flagged as districts of concern. In Tripura, there has been a steep rise in positivity from 1.3% in April to around 8.7% now. West Tripura, Unakoti, South Tripura were flagged as districts of concern.