As many as 5.4 crore samples have been tested for coronavirus and 40 lakh people are under surveillance, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday. Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai also said India is testing about one million samples a day at 1,697 laboratories across the country. “As on September 10, a total of about 40 lakh persons have been kept under surveillance. A total of 5.4 crore samples have been tested so far,” he said in a written reply to a question. The minister said that as on September 10, a total of 15,290 COVID-19 treatment facilities with 13,14,171 dedicated isolation beds, without oxygen support, have been created. Also, a total of 2,31,269 oxygen-supported isolation beds and 62,694 ICU beds (including 32,241 ventilator beds) are available in the country, he said. Guidelines on clinical management of COVID-19 have been issued and are being updated regularly, he said. Rai said states are being supported in terms of supply of logistics and as on 10th September, 1.39 crore PPE kits, 3.42 crore N-95 masks, 10.84 crore Hydroxychloroquine tablets and 29,779 ventilators and 1,02,400 oxygen cylinders have been supplied to states, union territories and central government hospitals. The central government has taken a series of actions to prevent, control and mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and India followed a ‘whole of government and whole of society’ approach, he said. Rai said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a high-level Group of Ministers (GoM), the Cabinet Secretary, a Committee of Secretaries and senior officers in the Union Health Ministry continue to monitor public health response to COVID-19 in the country. Public health actions were taken in a preemptive, proactive and graded manner based on the evolving scenario, he said. The minister said a number of travel advisories were issued restricting the inflow of international travelers, and commercial flights were suspended on March 23. A total of 14,154 flights with 15,24,266 passengers have been screened at airports and screening was also done at 12 major and 65 minor ports and land border crossings, he said. Rai said that in the initial part of the pandemic, India evacuated a large number of stranded passengers from then COVID-19 affected countries (China, Italy, Iran, Japan, Malaysia) and again in the un-lockdown phase, a total of 12,43,176 passengers have been brought back (as on September 9) and followed up. He said the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) is conducting contact-tracing through community surveillance. In the earlier part of the pandemic, this was done for travel-related cases and subsequently for cases being reported from community as a part of containment strategy, he said.
