The prevention, containment and management of COVID-19 in the country are being regularly monitored at the highest level and various actions have been initiated in collaboration by Government of India along with the States/UTs.Cabinet Secretary has directed all the States/UTs to coordinate and manage the situation of migrant workers in ensuring lockdown measures are being followed such that proper welfare is also taken care by providing food, water, medical supplies and sanitation arrangements in relief centres/ quarantine facilities. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare had also issued an advisory for proper quarantine and psycho-social measures for migrant workers yesterday, which is available at https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/RevisedPsychosocialissuesofmigrantsCOVID19.pdf.Under the orders of Hon’ble Supreme Court, States have been directed that trained counsellors and/or community group leaders of all religions will visit and provide psycho-social support to the migrants in relief camps. As directed by Hon’ble Supreme Court, for technical queries, the Ministry of Health has provided an email ([email protected]) which will provide authentic technical information to queries from institutions like AIIMS, New Delhi.
All the technical guidelines are also available on website of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (https://www.mohfw.gov.in/). Toll Free number (1075) and helpline email id ([email protected]) for COVID-19 related queries have been operational for some time.In addition, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has notified that all 24 classes of medical devices shall be regulated as drugs for quality control and price monitoring under the provisions of Drug (Price Control) Order 2013 with effect from 1st April 2020, to ensure that no manufacturer shall increase the MRP of these items more than beyond 10% of MRP in the last 12 months.Ministry of AYUSH has also recommended measures for self care guidelines in preventive health care that can boost immunity especially for respiratory health for the COVID-19 crisis.It is also emphasised that direction related to lockdown, proposed social distancing measures and large groups are to be avoided for religious congregations.As of now, 1637 confirmed cases and 38 deaths have been reported. During the last 24 hours, 376 new confirmed cases and 3 new deaths have been reported. 132 persons have been cured /discharged from the hospitals after recovery.