Delhi Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) on Friday chaired the 23rd meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) to review the Covid-19 situation in the national Capital and the preparedness of the Government to deal with cases in coming months.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, AAP senior leader and Health Minister Satyendar Jain, Chief Secretary Dr VK Paul-NITI Aayog, CP-Delhi, Dr Randeep Guleria-AIIMS, Professor Balram Bhargava-ICMR, Dr SK Singh-NCDC, Krishna Vatsa-NDMA and other senior officials attended the meeting.
According to sources present in the meeting, it was decided to undertake aggressive and targeted surveillance and testing in areas, locations and specific activities to ascertain and address any trends of concern after detailed discussions and deliberations with experts.
Health experts while appreciating the efforts undertaken to achieve and maintain the current status also stressed upon continued vigil and caution and suggested that all steps relating to preparedness for any probable surge/wave of infections in terms of hospital infrastructure and oxygen and drugs availability should be put in place and operationalised by the end of August.
“It was also suggested that the comfort provided by the current controlled situation be utilised for undertaking an advanced sero survey that takes into account extended epidemiological dimensions so as to identify susceptible pool and augment the genome sequencing efforts with an aim of prioritising vaccination. The health department was advised accordingly,” they said.
“The issue of opening of schools and educational institutions was also deliberated upon in detail. In accordance with the advice given by the experts, it was decided to set up a committee of experts along with officials of education and health departments to evaluate and finalise a detailed plan comprising Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs), preparedness of the schools to adhere to and implement it, vaccination of teachers and staff of the schools, addressing concerns of parents of the students and the involvement of all stakeholders in this decision. A decision in this regard will be taken thereafter,” they said.