ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
(DR. HARSH VARDHAN)
(a) & (b): In absolute number of COVID-19 cases, India has so far reported 55,62,663 cases as compared to Brazil which has reported 45,44,629 cases. However in terms of cases per million population, Brazil has 21380 cases per million population, which is 5 times that of India (4031 cases per million population, as on 22nd September 2020).
Government of India has taken a series of actions to prevent, control and mitigate the impact of COVID-19. India followed a whole of Government and whole of society approach. Hon’ble Prime Minister, a High level Group of Ministers (GoM), Cabinet Secretary, Committee of Secretaries and senior officers in MoHFW continue to monitor public health response to COVID-19 in the country.
The public health actions were taken in a pre-emptive, pro-active, graded manner based on the evolving scenario. A number of travel advisories were issued restricting inflow of international travelers, till such time, commercial flights were suspended on 23rd March, 2020. Till then, a total of 14,154 flights with 15,24,266 passengers have been screened at these airports. Screening was also done at 12 major and 65 minor ports and land border crossings. In the initial part of the pandemic, India evacuated a large number of stranded passengers from then COVID affected countries (China, Italy, Iran, Japan, Malaysia) and again in the un-lockdown phase, a total of 13,76,090 passengers have been brought back (as reported on 20th September, 2020) and followed up.
Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) is conducting contact tracing through community surveillance. In the earlier part of the pandemic, this was done for travel related cases and subsequently for cases being reported from community as a part of containment strategy. As on 20th September 2020, a total of about 40 lakh persons have been kept under surveillance. India is testing is about 1 million samples a day. A total of 6.43 crore samples have been tested so far (as on 20th September 2020).
As on 21st September, 2020, a total of 15,373 COVID treatment facilities with 13,18,826 dedicated isolation bed without O2 support have been created. Also, a total of 2,35,901 oxygen supported isolation beds and 64,868 ICU beds (including 32,792 ventilator beds).Guidelines on Clinical management of COVID-19 have been issued and are being updated regularly.
States are being supported in terms of supply of logistics. So far 1.42 Crore of PPE Kits, 3.45 crores N-95 masks, 10.84 crore tablets of Hydroxychloroquine, 30,841 ventilators and 1,02,400 oxygen cylinders have been supplied to States/UTs/ Central Government hospitals so far (as reported on 20th September, 2020).
Various cadres of personnel and volunteers across sectors and departments for COVID related worksand maintenance of other essential medical services have been worked out, trained throughresources made available on the website of MoHFW, iGOT (online platform) by DOPT (https://igot.gov.in/igot/).
MoHFW website is being daily to provide general public with information on current status of COVID-19 spread in India. Communication material is also being hosted on MoHFW website and through social media. A dedicated call centre / helpline (1075) has been started to guide community at large which are being used by the citizens very effectively and on a regular basis.
More than 30 vaccine candidates have been supported which are in different stages of development, 3 candidates are in advanced stage of Phase I/II/III trials and more than 4 are in advanced pre-clinical development stage. A National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 has been constituted on 7th August, 2020, under NITI Ayog. Thirteen clinical trials of repurposed drugs have been undertaken to build a portfolio of therapeutic options for Covid-19 patients.
(c) to (e): Ministry of AYUSH issued an advisory on 29.01.2020 on how to protect oneself from COVID and how to stay healthy. Ministry has also written a letter dated 06.03.2020 to all Chief Secretaries of States / Union territories with more specific suggestions on augmentation of General Immunity of people and about possible AYUSH intervention. Ministry has also issued self-care guidelines on 31.03.2020 for preventive health measures and boosting immunity with special reference to respiratory health.
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