Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan held a meeting through video conferencing to review the activities taken under the “Jan Andolan” on COVID Appropriate Behaviour withthe Heads of all AIIMS and Central Government Hospitals, here today.

Highlighting the importance of the coming months in the country’s collective fight against the pandemic, Dr Harsh Vardhansaid, “We are now entering into the tenth month of our fight against COVID-19. It was on the 8^th of January when we had our first meeting of the expert group. Since then, the journey has been relentless. But today, we can proudly say that we have created significant infrastructure for our fight against COVID which includes over 90 lakh beds, over 12,000 quarantine centres and more than 1900 labs.” He expressed deep gratitude and salutations for the tireless and dedicated efforts by all warriors and expressed grief over the death of those warriors who sacrificed their life saving others.

He stated that “The next two and half months are going to be  very crucial for us in our fight against corona because of the winter season and the festival season. It becomes responsibility of every citizen to not let our guard down and follow COVID appropriate behaviour to curb spread of the infection.”

Urging people across the country to follow the clarion call of the Hon. Prime Minister as part of the ‘Jan Andolan’ launched on the 8^th of this month, the Union Health Minister urged people to follow COVID appropriatebehaviour. He said, “The virus has adversely affected the whole world. But simple precautionary measuresare effective in preventing the coronavirus to a large extent. Wearing mask/face cover especially in public spaces, and following hand and respiratory etiquettes are the cardinal principles of social vaccine.” He stressed on the importance of physical distancing for effective containment of the disease. The Union Minister asked all the heads of medical institutions to be the frontrunners in showcasing the importance of this Social Vaccineto break the chain of transmission of the disease in the country.

On India’s fight against COVID-19, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “India is continuously recording new milestones in treatment of Covid. Our Recovery rate is the highest in the world and the fatality is amongthe lowest in the world. The Active Cases are constantly declining. All the parameters have proven the success of the COVID-19 containment strategy followed by all States and UTs under the dynamic guidance of the Hon’ble Prime Minister. We have successfully ramped up our testing capacity which has crossed 9 Cr today. India also has now become self reliant in terms of masks and PPE kits which we earlier used to import.”

He also urged the heads of Medical Institutes to play a leadership role in motivating people and spreading awareness by organising meeting with influential persons, local NGOs, schools etc.

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MV/SJ

HFW/COVID-AIIMS Jan Andolan/14thOctober2020/3