New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said Covid-19 vaccination of all eligible children at the earliest is the Central government’s priority, adding specialised programmes will need to be conducted for it in the schools.
Citing the rise in Covid-19 cases in some states in the last two weeks, he emphasized it is clear that the threat of coronavirus is not fully gone yet, PTI reported.
Prime Minister Modi said vaccine is the biggest protective shield against the virus.
He said the awareness of parents and children is very important in this regard.
Speaking at an interaction with the chief ministers on the emerging Covid-19 situation in the country, Prime Minister Modi said there was a need to remain alert.
“Despite managing the Covid crisis well as compared to other countries, we can see cases' uptick in the states now. We have to stay alert. It's clear that the Covid challenge has yet not been surpassed,” ANI quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
Prime Minister Modi said the country’s scientists and experts are continuously monitoring the national and global situation.
“We have to work on their suggestions with a pre-emptive, pro-active and collective approach,” he added.
Stating stopping the infection at the very beginning has been “our priority” as well and it should remain the same even today, Prime Minister Modi said: “We have to implement our strategy of Test, Track and Treat equally effectively.”
“In the current situation of coronavirus, it is necessary that we have 100 per cent RT-PCR test for patients admitted in hospitals who are serious influenza cases,” he added.
Prime Minister Modi said the coordination between states and the Centre is very important..
“(Ukraine) war has affected the supply chain which has posed many challenges. Hence Cooperative Federalism is important...Scaling-up of manpower and medical infrastructure was also discussed in today's Covid review meeting,” he added.
Prime Minister Modi also called for scaling up infrastructure and manpower at medical colleges and district hospitals.
He urged all states to get safety audits of all hospitals done on a priority basis to prevent fire incidents, which have been increasing amid heatwave, ANI reported.
“Our response time should also be minimal,” he added.
Several chief ministers, including West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, Chhattisgarh’s Bhupesh Baghel, Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab's Bhagwant Mann, participated in the interaction.
Besides, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya were also present at the meeting held to assess the health situation across the nation amid the rising Covid-19 cases.