The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) announced that the Centre has released Rs. 890.32 crores as the second installment of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness package to 22 States and Union Territories (U.T.s).
The States and U.T.s who got the package include Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim.
The financial assistance provided to each State and U.T. is subject to the number of cases in the region. The package is a part of Prime Minister of India – Narendra Modi’s financial stimulus of Rs. 15,000 crores.
The funds would be used to improve the public health infrastructure for testing, including procurement and installation of RT-PCR machines, RNA extraction kits, TrueNat and CB-NAAT machines. The funds would also be used to improve the infrastructure for treatment and development of ICU beds. Oxygen generators and procurement of bedside oxygen concentrators will also be arranged from the funds.
Providing training and capacity building of human resources will also be done. The funds will also be used as incentives to healthcare workforce and volunteers, including ASHA workers on COVID-19 duties.
It is to be noted that the first installment of Rs. 3,000 crores was released in April 2020 to help States and U.T.s ramp up testing facilities, augment hospital infrastructure, conduct surveillance activities along with procurement of essential equipment, drugs and other supplies. With the help if first installment, India improved its health infrastructure with 5,80,342 isolation beds, 1,36,068 oxygen-supported beds, 31,255 ICU beds, 86,88,357 testing kits, 79,88,366 Vial Transport Media (VTM). As many as 96,557 human resource were added and 6,65,799 people were given incentive.
Meanwhile, India reported 56,282 fresh cases and 904 casualties, taking the total tally to 19,64,536 cases and 40,699 casualties. Maharashtra, the worst hit State reported 10,309 fresh cases and 334 casualties, taking the total number of cases to 4,68,265 and casualties to 16,476. Tamil Nadu, the second most hit State reported 5,175 cases and 112 casualties. The total number of cases in the State are 2,73,460 and there have been 4,461 casualties. With 10,128 fresh cases and 77 casualties, Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the third most affected State, pushing the tally to 1,86,461 cases and 1,681 casualties.
In other developments, mentioning about the improvement in COVID-119 cases in Delhi, the Delhi Government has again sent a proposal to Lieutenant Governor – Anil Baijal for opening of gyms, hotels weekly markets. According to an interim analysis of a randomised controlled trial done at AIIMS Delhi, to assess the efficacy of treatment by plasma therapy, convalescent plasma therapy did not show benefit in reducing mortality risk among COVID-19 patients.
The Delhi High Court has directed the Kejriwal-Government to take action against online health service aggregators who are operating illegally and collecting samples for COVID-19 tests.
