The government of India has taken a series of actions to prevent, combat, and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Prime Minister, a High-level Group of Ministers (GoM), Cabinet Secretary, Committee of Secretaries, and senior officers in MoHFW have been continuously monitoring 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 the inflow of international travelers, till such time, commercial flights were suspended on March 23, 2020. A total of 14,154 flights with 15,24,266 passengers have been screened at the airports. Screening was also done at 12 major and 65 minor ports and land border crossings.
In the initial part of the COVID-19 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 12,43,176 passengers have been brought back and followed up.
Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) is conducting contact tracing through community surveillance. As of September 10, a total of about 40 lakh persons have been kept under surveillance. There are 1697 laboratories conducting COVID-19 Testing. India is testing is about 1 million samples a day. A total of 5.4 crore samples have been tested so far.
As of September 10, a total of 15,290 COVID treatment facilities with 13,14,171 dedicated isolation beds without O2 support have been created. Also, a total of 2,31,269 oxygen supported isolation beds and 62,694 ICU beds (including 32,241 ventilator beds). Guidelines on Clinical management of COVID-19 have been issued and are being updated regularly.
States are also being supported in terms of supply of logistics. A total of 1.39 Crore of PPE Kits, 3.42 crores N-95 masks, 10.84 crore tablets of Hydroxychloroquine and 29,779 ventilators, and 1,02,400 oxygen cylinders have been supplied to States/UTs/ Central Government hospitals as on September 10, 2020.
MoHFW website is being daily to provide the general public with information on the current status of COVID-19 spread in India. Communication material is also being hosted on the MoHFW website and through social media. A dedicated call centre helpline (1075) has been started to guide the 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 the advanced stage of Phase I/II/III trials and more than 4 are in the advanced pre-clinical development stage. A National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 has been constituted on August 7, under NITI Ayog. Thirteen clinical trials of repurposed drugs have been undertaken to build a portfolio of therapeutic options for Covid-19 patients.
Meanwhile, Union Health Secretary has written to all States/UTs to engage private hospitals through mutually agreeable arrangements. Rates under PM-JAY and CGHS packages have been advised. A large number of States have accordingly issued instructions to that affect.