PM announces campaign for Covid appropriate behaviour from April 6-14

The Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting to review the COVID-19 Pandemic situation and vaccination program in the country.

"A special campaign for Covid appropriate behaviour with emphasis on 100 per cent mask usage, personal hygiene and sanitation at public places /workplaces and health facilities will be organised from 6th April to 14 April 2021," said the PM.

The Prime Minister highlighted the need to enforce COVID appropriate behaviour in the coming days and ensure the availability of beds, testing facilities and timely hospitalization. The Prime Minister called attention to avoid mortality under all circumstances by ramping up healthcare infrastructure, availability of oxygen, ventilators besides required logistics, and ensuring that clinical management protocols are followed across all hospitals as well as for those in-home care.

The Prime Minister especially highlighted the need to ensure effective implementation of containment measures, besides the involvement of community volunteers in active case search and management of containment zones. He exhorted that all states need to take required stringent measures with comprehensive restrictions in places witnessing high surge to curb the spread.

A detailed presentation was made which highlighted that there is an alarming rate of growth of Covid-19 cases and deaths in the country with 10 states contributing to more than 91% of cases and deaths due to COVID.

It was emphasized that the reasons for the sharper rise in cases could be mainly attributed to the severe decline in compliance of Covid-appropriate behaviour primarily in terms of use of masks and maintaining '2 Gaj ki Doori', pandemic fatigue and lack of effective implementation of containment measures at the field level.

Although the exact contribution of mutant strains to the escalation of cases in some States remains speculative, the measures to control the pandemic remain the same and hence implementation of various protocols for COVID-19 management are all the more critical in those areas.

Research and development of vaccines were also discussed along with the production capacity of existing manufacturers and the capacity of vaccines that are under trials. It was informed that vaccine manufacturers are ramping up their production capacity and are also in discussion with other domestic and offshore companies to augment the same.

The Prime Minister directed to continue with the mission-mode approach in the states and districts reporting high cases so that the collective gains of COVID-19 management in the country in the last 15 months are not squandered.

The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary to PM, Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary, Chairperson (Empowered group on Vaccine Administration), Secretary Health, Secretary Pharmaceuticals, Secretary Biotechnology, Secretary AYUSH, DG ICMR, Principal Scientific Advisor to Govt of India and Member NITI Aayog.