Need to be proactive,review international travel curbs-PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked officials to review plans to ease restrictions on international travel to and from India. In a meeting to review the public health preparedness and vaccination-related situation for COVID-19 in New Delhi, PM Modi  instructed officials to coordinate with states to ensure that there is adequate buffer stocks of various medicines and review the functioning of medical infrastructure including pediatric facilities with states. The PM said that in light of the new threat, people need to be more cautious and the need to take proper precautions like masking and social distancing. PM highlighted the need for monitoring all international arrivals, their testing as per guidelines, with a specific focus on countries identified ‘at risk’ the PMO said in the statement.

The Prime Minister was also briefed about the global trends on Covid-19 infections and cases as he reviewed the national situation relating to the infections and test positivity rates. Officials briefed PM about the new Variant of Concern ‘Omicron’ along with its characteristics and the impact seen in various countries. PM spoke about the need to increase the sequencing efforts and make it more broad-based. PM was apprised of the progress in vaccination and the efforts being made under the ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign.