The Council of Ministers met today to discuss the situation arising out of the second wave of COVID in the country.

The Council of Ministers meeting noted that the present pandemic crisis is ‘once in a century crisis’ and has thrown a big challenge for the world.

Government of India’s Team India approach to fight COVID, based on the collective efforts of the Centre, State Governments and people of India was highlighted.

PM Narendra Modi said that all arms of the Government are working unitedly & rapidly to deal with the situation. He also urged the Ministers to stay in touch with people of their respective regions, help them and keep getting their feedback. He stressed upon the need to ensure that issues at the local level are promptly identified and addressed.

The Council also reviewed all the efforts made in the last 14 months by the Central and State Governments and the people of India.

The efforts by the Central Government in coordination with the states towards building up infrastructure in the form of ramping up hospital beds, PSA oxygen facilitiesetc, resolving issues in production, storage & transport of Oxygen, tackling matters relating to availability of essential medicines were briefed. The measures being taken to further ramp up their supply and availability were also pointed out. The support measures to the vulnerable population in the form of provision of food-grains and financial support to Jan Dhan account holders were also pointed out.

It was also noted that India could successfully produce two vaccines and there are many candidates at the various stages of approval and induction. More than 15 crore vaccinations have been done as on date.

The council of Ministers also stressed the importance of Covid appropriate behaviour– wearing a mask, keeping physical distance of 6 feet and washing hands frequently.

The Council reiterated that the participation of society is a key aspect to accomplish the gigantic task ahead and expressed confidence that the country will rise to the occasion and defeat the virus.

The meeting, held through video conferencing, was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi & attended by Ministers as well Principal Secretary to PM, Cabinet Secretary. Member(Health) NITI Aayog Dr. V.K.Paul made a presentation on Management of Covid-19 pandemic.

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