Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday had a word of caution for his fellow Indians, given that the festival season is just around the corner.
While unveiling three Covid-19 testing facilities in Noida, Mumbai and Kolkata via a video conference, the Prime Minister said, “Festivals are around the corner. We should be careful that the festivals remain a cause for happiness, and not become the reason for the spread of the virus.”
He added that the “only solution” till a vaccine comes is basic health hygiene like “2 gaaj ke doori”, wearing masks and using hand sanitisers, among others.
The Prime Minister also assured that India’s talented scientists are working continuously to develop a vaccine that can kill the dreaded virus.
The Prime Minister said that India has taken the uphill challenge to create a mammoth health infrastructure to fight the Covid-19 pandemic head on.
Meanwhile, he also heaped praise on the “foot soldiers” while adding that Indians by now are fully aware of the pandemic.
Modi on Monday launched three high throughput Covid-19 testing facilities in Noida, Mumbai and Kolkata via video conferencing in the presence of Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and the three concerned Chief Ministers — Yogi Adityanath, Uddhav Thackeray and Mamata Banerjee. The three centres will be able to test over 10,000 samples a day.
As on Monday, India’s Covid-19 tally stood at 14,35,453, out of which 9,17,568 have been cured – as per the Health Ministry data.
India has become the second largest personal protective equipment (PPE) kits manufacturer in the last four months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday while inaugurating the three more high tech state of the art testing labs for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
Modi said that the right decisions taken at the right time led India to be in a better position as compared to other countries to fight coronavirus.
Speaking on the occasion, he said, “Crores of people are fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Today we launched three high tech testing labs, which will help West Bengal, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.”
He said that Delhi-NCR, Kolkata and Mumbai are big economic centres and here youths come to make their careers and fulfill their dreams. Modi said that with the launch of three more throughput testing labs, India will test 10,000 more samples everyday.
The Prime Minister said, “These high tech labs will not be specific for Covid-19 and in future it will be for Hepatitis B, Dengue, HIV. These tests will also be done here.”
Hailing the decisions of his government to combat the spread of the Covid-19, Modi said, “It is because India took right decisions at the right time that it is in a better position as compared to other countries.”
“The fatalities in India due to Covid-19 is less as compared to other countries and the recovery rate is much higher and it is improving day by day,” Modi said.
Despite crossing the 14 lakh mark on Monday, recovery rate in India is 63.92 per cent.
Modi said that the number of people getting cured from Covid-19 is almost 10 lakh. “That is why in the beginning the central government announced Rs 15,000 crore package, for isolation centres, Covid-19 centres, testing and tracing. India has improved its facilities,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister said that now India has more than 11,000 Covid-19 facilities and more than 11 lakh Covid-19 beds. “In January we had only one centre in India for Covid-19 testing and now we have 1,300 labs across the country. More than five lakh tests are being done every day. And in the coming days we are trying to get 10 lakh tests,” he said.
Modi emphasised that the government focused on saving the lives of every Indian getting infected with Covid-19 and “this has given a good result”.
Pointing out at the production of PPE kits and face masks, Modi said, “what India has done is a big success story”.
“Now India is the second biggest manufacturer of PPE kits. Six months ago not a single PPE manufacturing unit was there and now today we have more than 1,200 manufacturers who are producing more than 5 lakh kits,” Modi said.
He also said that earlier India imported N95 masks from other countries and now three lakh masks are being manufactured in India daily. He also said that earlier India was dependent on other countries for ventilators and now we have developed the system for manufacturing of three lakh ventilators in India.
