Cabinet Secretary reviews Covid-19 situation in country

Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired the 33rd meeting with the States and Union Territories to review the COVID-19 situation in the country. Mr Gauba briefed the States on the action taken by the Government of India in controlling the effect of the COVID pandemic since last year. 

He informed that the Prime Minister’s active engagement with domestic industries for production and supply of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) since September last year has helped in resolving various logistics issues of transport of LMO on land, air and water.

 

The Cabinet Secretary emphasised the need of keeping the public informed about the action taken by the Central and State governments. He  assured that no stone would be left unturned to provide timely oxygen supply and other medical resources to the hospitals.

 

Mr Gauba insisted that those eligible for second dose of vaccination should be given priority and the vaccination wastage should be minimized. Expressing



his concern over the misinformation on the subject of vaccination, he mentioned that all vaccines that are procured either by the Central or the State governments, are actually meant for the public in the States and there is no consumption at the Central level.

 

During the meeting, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan requested the States and UTs to prioritise in terms of testing, intensive action and local containment of the pandemic, strengthening of hospital infrastructure, augmentation of human resources and rational utilisation of oxygen. He informed about the plan to instal one thousand 213 Pressure Swing Absorption-PSA plants within the next three months.

 

Reiterating the judicious use of vaccines, he stressed the need for an awareness campaign on the importance of completion of both doses of vaccination, for better immunity. He said, States should constitute dedicated teams to interact with the vaccine producers on daily basis.