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Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 17
After an acrimonious back and forth between the Centre and Opposition-ruled Maharashtra over pandemic management amidst a new peak of over 2.34 lakh cases and 1,341 deaths, PM Narendra Modi on Saturday directed closer coordination with the states to curb the Covid surge.
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79% cases in 11 states
Maharashtra (63,729), UP (27,360), Delhi (19,486), Chhattisgarh (14,912), Karnataka (14,859), MP (11,045), Kerala (10,031), Gujarat (8,920), TN (8,449) and Rajasthan (7,359).
Remdesivir prices cut
Companies manufacturing anti-viral drug Remdesivir, used to treat Covid patients on oxygen support, on Saturday announced voluntary reductions in prices from 25 to 67%. Cadila announced largest cut from Rs2,800 to Rs899 per 100 mg vial.
“Closer coordination with the states is a must. All necessary measures must be taken to ramp up availability of hospital beds for patients. Issues related to real-time supply chain management of Remdesivir to states must be resolved urgently,” the PM told officials at his fourth review meet within 10 days.
Appeals for symbolic kumbh, Akhara obliges
The Kumbh is all set to end before the scheduled date (April 30) after the Juna Akhara, one of the most prominent religious groups at the event, called off its participation. Akhara chief Avdheshanand Giri announced conclusion of festivities hours after the PM urged that Kumbh be kept symbolic to strengthen fight against Covid.
The PM’s directions on coordination with states came as Maharashtra complained of shortages of medical oxygen and Remdesivir and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said hospital were running out of beds. States have been assured one lakh oxygen cylinders soon. Taking stock of Remdesivir, the PM asked officials to ensure that the antiviral injection was used as per the approved guidelines (only for hospitalised patients on oxygen) and its black marketing was curbed.
2,34,692 fresh cases in 24 hours take india’s caseload to 1,45,26,609
16,79,740 active cases in the country
1,341 record deaths take toll to 1,75,649
Global death toll tops 30 Lakh
The major takeaways from today’s review include PM’s stress that there was “no substitute to test, track and treat” and his directions to use pharma and vaccine production capacities to boost vaccine availability.
“Early testing and proper tracking remain keys to reduce mortality. Local administrations need to be proactive and sensitive to people’s concerns,” he stressed, directing the officials to ramp up hospital-bed availability through temporary hospitals and isolation centres. Top officials said Remdesivir production would be raised to 74.10 lakh vials a month by May as against 27 lakh vials a month recently. “Remdesivir supplies have increased from 67,900 vials on April 11 to 2,06,000 vials on April 15 to high caseload states,” the PM was told. Cabinet Secretary Rajeev Gauba, Principal Secretary to PM, Home Secretary, Health Secretary, Pharma Secretary and VK Paul of Niti Aayog were present at the meeting.
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