Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, held a meeting through video conferencing to review COVID-19 preparedness COVID and measures for ensuring COVID Appropriate Behaviour with the Health and Medical Education Ministers and other senior officials of Uttar Pradesh, here today.

At the outset, Dr. Harsh Vardhan appreciated the efforts of the corona warriors in combating COVID-19. He informed that in the last three months, the country has seen significant improvement in the COVID parameters. “From recording over 95,000 cases in a day, the cases have been substantially reduced to less than 55,000 cases in a day. The Recovery Rate of India is nearing 90%. The Case Fatality Rate is also declining. CFR stands at 1.51% and is moving towards the target of having CFR less than 1%”, he said.

He further added, “The number of active cases are less than 7 lakh and the doubling rate has increased to 97.2 days, as of now. The journey which started from having just one lab, we have come a long way in now having nearly 2000 labs in the country. The number of total tests conducted across the country have surpassed 10 crore. This is a positive indication that we are moving in the right direction”.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan stated, “Appropriate measures are being taken to combat COVID-19. But the next three months are going to be decisive in determining the situation of COVID in the country. If we take adequate precaution and follow COVID appropriate behaviour in the coming festival and winter season, we will be in a better position to fight Corona.”  He further added “For a big state like Uttar Pradesh, it becomes important that maximum thrust is given to simple precautionary measures which are effective in preventing the Coronavirus to a large extent like wearing mask/face cover especially in public spaces, and following hand and respiratory etiquettes.” Dr Vardhan also spoke to the officials of the districts where the new cases or deaths are increasing.

He also informed that as on date Uttar Pradesh has fatality rate of 1.46 which is less than the National Average. The Recovery Rate of the State (92.2%) is also more than the national recovery rate. The positivity rate is 3.44%.

Dr Harsh Vardhan stressed that the State needs to focus on increasing testing, surveillance, contact tracing, and early diagnosis to keep fatality rate low.  He appreciated the efforts of UP in vaccinating those children who were left out of immunisation due to Corona.

Sh. Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary, Smt. Arti Ahuja, Addl. Secretary (Health) and Shri Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary MoHFW were also present in the meeting. Other senior officials from the State joined virtually.

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MV/SJ

HFW/HFM VC with UP/23October2020/3