The Group of Ministers, in its high-level meeting on Saturday reviewed the current status and actions for management of COVID-19. It was the 13th meeting of GoM in New Delhi in which a detailed presentation on the status of COVID-19 in the country along with the response and its management were made.

The GoM had a detailed deliberation on the measures taken as on date by the Centre and various States and Union Territories for prevention, containment and management of COVID-19.



The GoM was informed that all districts have been asked to follow and further strengthen their contingency plans to combat COVID-19. It was briefed on the state-wise details of dedicated COVID-19 hospitals along with the adequacy of isolation beds, PPEs, N-95 masks, drugs, ventilators and oxygen cylinders.

The GoM was also informed that a national level meta-data of health workers, doctors, NCC and others, has been prepared and shared to all the states, districts and other officials to mobilize the resources and COVID Warriors to much needed locations. There is presently data of more than 1.24 crore human resources on the dashboard. These COVID Warriors are being trained through online platforms and so far more than 10 lakh personnel have been trained.



The GoM was also apprised that as of now the death rate is around 3.1 per cent while recovery rate is more than 20 per cent , which is comparatively better than most of the countries and may be taken as a positive effect of the lockdown in the country along with the cluster management and containment strategy. It was said that the average doubling rate of the country is 9.1 days, as of now.



During the meeting, the Chairman of the GoM and Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan commended the dedication and hard work of all the stakeholders at all levels. He informed that in view of the urgent need for addressing the issues of stigma and discrimination of patients and also the health care workers combating with COVID-19, the Ordinance for amendment of Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 has been recently promulgated with very stringent provisions.



Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai also attended the meeting.