NEW DELHI : India, the world’s second-most populous nation, has prepared a multi-pronged strategy to combat the spread of the Covid-19 virus, which is threatening to turn into a pandemic.
The “mitigation plan" involves roping in Employees’ State Insurance Corp (ESIC), defence, railways and paramilitary personnel, according to government documents reviewed by Mint.
Quarantine facilities are also being readied to hold around 4,396 people across camps of the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Security Guard (NSG), Army, Air Force and the Navy. Programmes are being launched to train these personnel. Besides, steel ministry-run hospitals are being readied for any eventuality.
The plan, which will be shared with all states and Union territories, comes as nations struggle to contain the contagion.
The Centre is also considering shutting the Kartarpur and Wagah border crossings with Pakistan. Also, given India’s porous borders with Nepal, eight central teams have visited districts adjoining the border to review the situation and create awareness.
Around 3,360 gram sabha meetings have been conducted across 21 districts in five states bordering Nepal.
Given Iran has emerged as a Covid-19 hot spot, the government is also preparing a specific plan for the Persian Gulf nation that would largely mirror standard operating procedures adopted after the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic (swine flu).
India plans to evacuate its citizens from Iran, where 2,336 people have been infected and 77 have died. There are at least 300 Indians in Tehran, mostly students and pilgrims.
An Indian Council of Medical Research representative has reached Iran along with reagents necessary for the chemical analysis of the virus. This involves testing and quarantine of passengers from Iran before they depart for India.
Fears of the epidemic picking up in India are not unfounded, considering that a parliamentary committee on health had earlier noted that the progress on infrastructure development for health research and setting up a nationwide network of laboratories to manage epidemics and national calamities has been slow.
Health secretary Preeti Sudan has deputed all 13 joint secretaries in her ministry to assess the preparedness of states and Union territories.
A training workshop has been organized on Friday by the health and family welfare ministry in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO). In the second phase, more workshops will be held along with hospital-level training.
At present, the ITBP has set up a 600-bed facility in Delhi’s Chhawla area to quarantine Covid-19 patients, while the Army has set up a similar unit in Manesar near Gurugram.
In addition to the 15 labs set up earlier, 35 more labs are being brought online for testing suspected patients.
Besides reagents to test up to 25,000 samples that are available, additional reagents for testing 30,000-50,000 samples are also being procured.
To prevent any shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) kits for health workers, additional procurement is being done for 150,000 PPE kits and 300,000 N95 masks. Domestic manufacturers have also been identified to make coveralls with a combined capacity of 30,000 coveralls per week. There is a central inventory available of 50,000 of PPE kits and 200,000 N-95 masks.
“Currently, India has ample medicines and PPE stocks. Yet we have already doubled our demand for masks and sanitizers, considering the evolving situation in India. Currently, the government is taking all possible steps to contain the infection and tracing all contacts of the positive cases. In case the situation worsens, we will need to further expand the health infrastructure to handle it," said Randeep Guleria, director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
