Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on Saturday agreed to deploy full strength of the partnership between the two countries to fight the deadly coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. The two leaders held an extensive telephonic conversation and discussed the crisis that the world is currently facing.
Taking micro-blogging site, Twitter, PM Modi said, "Had an extensive telephone conversation with President Donald Trump. We had a good discussion, and agreed to deploy the full strength of the India-US partnership to fight COVID-19."
On April 2, PM Modi held a telephone conversation with Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel. The two leaders discussed the ongoing pandemic, the situation in their respective countries, and the importance of international collaboration for fighting the health crisis. They also shared views on the inadequate availability of medicines and medical equipment required during the pandemic and agreed to explore avenues of cooperation in this regard.
The German Chancellor agreed with PM Modi that the COVID-19 pandemic is an important turning point in modern history, and offers an opportunity to forge a new vision of globalisation focused on the shared interests of humanity as a whole. The Prime Minister informed Merkel about the recent Indian initiatives to disseminate simple yoga exercises and immunity-enhancing Ayurvedic remedies for people of the world. The Chancellor agreed that such practices could be very beneficial for enhancing psychological and physical health, especially under the present lockdown conditions.
On Saturday, PM Modi chaired a joint meeting of the Empowered Groups constituted for planning and ensuring implementation of COVID-19 response activities in the country. In a series of tweets, PM wrote that he reviewed countrywide preparedness regarding the availability of hospitals, proper isolation and quarantine facilities as well as disease surveillance, testing and critical care training and also directed the concerned groups and officials to ensure sufficient production, procurement and availability of all essential medical equipment such as PPEs, masks, gloves and ventilators.
Various actions have been initiated by the Centre along with the States/UTs for the prevention, containment and management of COVID-19 in the country. These are being regularly monitored at the highest level.
In order to address the requirements of containment and management of COVID-19 in the country, various levels of health professionals including doctors, nursing professionals, allied healthcare professionals and others are available.
As many as 9.70 lakh ASHAs, one lakh AYUSH professionals, NCC Cadets, ex-Servicemen, Red Cross/NSS/ NYK volunteers, employees from gram panchayats and Urban Local Body employees, Civil Society Organisations may be involved as required. A Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) for reallocation of residents/ PG Students and nursing students as part of hospital management has been prepared.
Additionally, more than 31,000 doctors including retired doctors from Government, Armed Forces Medical Services, Public Sector undertaking, and private doctors have voluntarily signed up to join the fight against COVID-19.
Under Lifeline UDAN, air cargo carriers have transported around 119 tons, till date, across all States with special focus to North Eastern regions and hilly areas, which includes COVID-19 related reagents, enzymes, medical equipment, testing kits, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), masks, gloves, etc.
As of now, 3072 confirmed cases including 75 deaths have been reported. 212 persons have been cured/discharged from the hospitals after recovery. So far, 1023 cases have been linked to Tablighi Jamaat across 17 states--Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, J&K, Rajasthan, Telangana, A&N Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
