In Covid review meet, PM underlines need to be 'satark', 'saavdhan'
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reviewed the COVID-19 situation in the country amid fresh concerns sparked by the outbreak of highly transmissible Omicron variant and stressed the need to be 'satark' (vigilant) and 'saavdhan' (cautious).
While asserting that the government is alert and seized of the evolving scenario, he added that the fight against the pandemic is not over yet and highlighted the "paramount importance" of Covid-safe behavior, a statement from the PMO said.
He directed officials that the Centre's teams be sent to states with low vaccination, rising cases, and insufficient health infrastructure, to assist them to improve the situation.
Places like New Delhi and Maharashtra have seen a rise in the number of new infections of late.
After the presentation by officials, including the measures taken to deal with the new challenges, Modi directed them to maintain a high level of vigil and alertness at all levels.
He asked them to work in close coordination with states to support their efforts of public health measures of containment and management under the 'whole of government' approach.
"The strategy of the Centre for the proactive, focussed, collaborative and cooperative fight against the pandemic should guide all our future actions," Modi told the officials.
In a tweet, he said, "Reviewed the COVID-19 situation across India, particularly in the wake of Omicron. Our focus is on further ramping up health infra, testing, tracing, and ensuring full vaccination coverage."
In the meeting, he directed the officials to ensure that the health systems in the states, beginning from the district level, are strengthened to meet any challenge posed by the new variant.
It is important for states to ensure that the oxygen supply equipment is installed and fully functional, Modi instructed the officials at the meeting, according to the statement.
He also asked the officials to work with states on a regular basis and review the status of preparedness of various components of health infrastructure including training and capacity building of human resources, timely availability of ambulances, the readiness of states to operationalize COVID facilities for institutional quarantining, and effective and supervised monitoring of those in home isolation.
He further asked officials to make effective use of IT tools for telemedicine and teleconsultation.
Heightened and close monitoring of emerging clusters and hotspots through active, prompt, and effective surveillance should continue, Modi stated at the meeting.
Modi directed officials for sending a good number of positive samples for genome sequencing to INSACOG Labs in a prompt manner.
He told officials to accelerate the testing to ensure quick identification of cases for timely containment and treatment.
The focus should also be on effective contact tracing for curbing the spread of the transmission, he said.
He directed officials that the central government should send teams to states with low vaccination, rising cases, and insufficient health infrastructure to assist them to improve the situation.
Modi was apprised of the progress in vaccination across the country and was briefed that more than 88 percent of the eligible population is administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and more than 60 percent of the eligible population has received the second dose, the PMO said.
States need to ensure full vaccination of the eligible population, he said.
In dealing with the infections, the focus should be on prompt and effective contact tracing, ramping up of testing, accelerating vaccination, and strengthening health infrastructure, he said.
Officials briefed him that the door-to-door 'Har Ghar Dastak' vaccination campaign to mobilize and vaccinate people has been able to motivate people to take the COVID-19 vaccine, and has shown encouraging results in boosting vaccine coverage.
Modi directed that states need to ensure that the eligible population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and to proceed to meet the target in a saturation mode.
India has recorded 236 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus across 16 states and UTs so far out of which 104 people have recovered or migrated, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
Modi gave directions to officials during a high-level meeting to review the status of COVID-19 and Omicron, the new variant of concern (VOC), and said "we should be 'satark' (vigilant) and 'saavdhan' (cautious)".
The meeting was held to review the public health response measures for containment and management of COVID-19, strengthening of health infrastructure including the availability of drugs, oxygen cylinders, and concentrators, ventilators, PSA plants, ICU/oxygen supported beds, human resources, IT interventions, and status of vaccination.
Officials briefed the prime minister about the emerging scenario globally driven by the new variant, with an overview of the surge in cases in countries having high vaccination coverage and presence of the Omicron variant, it said.
He was also apprised of the technical brief and priority actions recommended by the WHO in the context of Omicron.
A snapshot of the status of COVID-19 and Omicron in the country, including states reporting a higher number of cases, districts reporting higher positivity, and a higher number of clusters, was presented to the prime minister, the PMO said.
The details of the Omicron cases reported in the country, including their travel history, vaccination status, and recovered status were also presented, it said.
Modi was briefed on the various actions taken since November 25, when the first advisory of the Union Health Ministry was shared with the states.
Revised travel advisory for international passengers, review meetings with states/union territories on COVID-19 public health response measures, ramping up vaccination, installation of oxygen supply equipment, etc., was also briefed to Modi.
The meeting was attended by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, NITI Aayog Member (Health), Home Secretary A K Bhalla, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, ICMR DG Balram Bhargava, Principal Scientific Advisor K Vijay Raghavan among other senior officials.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
===================
The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
