Covid preparedness: Union Health Secretary to hold meeting with States

The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan will hold a meeting with States health secretaries and senior officers on Monday evening via video conferencing to review the preparedness for COVID19A nationwide mock drill is being planned for April 1011 in which health facilities from all the districts are expected to participate The details of the drill will be communicated in the meeting todayRecently the Union Health Secretary and Dr Rajiv Bahl DG ICMR issued a letter to the StatesUTs chief secretaries and Sr Health Officers regarding keeping a close watch on the evolving etiologies causes of diseases of influenzaStates and UTs must keep a close watch on the evolving etiologies causes of diseases which is Influenza Like Illness ILI amp Severe Acute Respiratory Illness SARI cases India usually sees a seasonal rise in influenza cases from January to March amp again from August to October Presently the most prominent subtypes of Influenza in circulation in the country seem to be influenza A H1N1 and influenza A H3N2 the advisory statedAlso read Maharashtra 50 per cent of new Covid19 cases are XBB116There are a few states like Kerala Maharashtra Gujarat Karnataka and Tamilnadu that have reported the maximum number of COVID19 cases in the country But hospitalization remains low in these statesThe Union health secretary highlighted the precautions that need to be taken by the peopleAs you may be aware COVID19 and influenza share a number of similarities in terms of mode of transmission highrisk population clinical signs and symptoms While this may present a clinical dilemma for the attending doctors in terms of diagnosis this also renders both these diseases easily preventable by following simple public health measures like avoiding overcrowded and poorly ventilated settings using a handkerchieftissue while sneezing or coughing wearing a mask in crowded amp closed settings maintaining hand hygiene avoiding spitting in public places etc the advisory further saidThe Union Health Secretary also mentioned that States should maintain the optimum testing for COVID19 preparednessIn the past several weeks in some States COVID19 testing has declined amp the current testing levels are insufficient as compared to the standards prescribed by WHO ie 140 testsmillion Testing at the level of districts amp blocks also varies with some States heavily relying on the less sensitive rapid antigen tests Hence it is critical to maintaining optimum testing for COVID19 equitably distributed with suitable modifications to address the emergence of new clusters of Covid cases across the States This is especially important to identify any emerging hotspots amp take preemptive steps to curb virus transmission ANI