India has fared much better place than rest of the world but there is no time for complacency, says Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.
As the country entered the “Unlock 1.0 phase” when restrictions have been eased and curbs lifted, Vardhan said that people need to be more disciplined and adopt appropriate behaviour to ensure norms of physical distancing, use of face covers, hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette are followed.
Vardhan also appealed to the heads of departments and said, “let us also not forget the ‘social vaccine’ against COVID-19 through strict adherence of norms of physical distancing, hand hygiene and mask/face covers.”
He also reminded everybody to download Aarogya Setu app which will help in self risk assessment and in protection against COVID-19. More than 12.55 crore people in the country have downloaded the app, as on date.
The COVID related health infrastructure has been strengthened with the availability of 958 dedicated COVID hospitals with 1,67,883 isolation beds, 21,614 ICU beds and 73,469 oxygen supported beds. Around 2,313 dedicated COVID-19 health centres with 1,33,037 isolation beds; 10,748 ICU beds and 46,635 oxygen supported beds have also been operationalised.
The Centre has also provided 128.48 lakh N95 masks and 104.74 lakh Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to the States/UTs/Central Institutions.
