Fight against COVID: Harsh Vardhan to visit hospitals over next few days to assess, scale-up facilities

New Delhi [India], April 16 : Amidst the surge in COVID-19 cases across the country, the Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan will visit various healthcare facilities over the next few days to assess and further scale-up facilities.
The union minister visited the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Friday. AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria and other doctors of the hospital were present during his visit.
Briefing the mediapersons, Dr Harsh Vardhan said, "The number of cases is rising across the country. That is why we are visiting various hospitals to assess the situation and also talking to doctors and everyone for further preparations."
"You know that when we started the war against COVID last year, we had a shortage on every front. But, as we learned from the experience, the challenge can be turned into an opportunity," he added.
Dr Harsh Vardhan said more than 20 lakh COVID beds have been made all over the country. "PPE KITS, N95 masks, labs for adequate testing, testing kits and now vaccination, all these things we have prepared in a year. Doctors have prepared a strategy to fight against COVID. We are now assessing what other things we can strengthen in advance," he said.
"This is the goal of today's AIIMS visit. Doctors have given all the information, we have told them our thing. We discussed innovative solutions and new reforms that can be adopted in the fight against COVID," stated Dr Harsh Vardhan.
India reported its highest-ever single-day spike in COVID-19 cases with over 2.17 lakh new cases and more than 1,100 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry on Friday.
In the last 24 hours, 1,185 COVID-related deaths were reported in the country taking the death toll to 1,74,308. As many as 2,17,353 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in India in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of cases has gone up to 1,42,91,917.
The active number of cases stands at 15,69,743.
In the last 24 hours, 1,18,302 people recovered from the disease. With this, the total recoveries reached 1,25,47,866.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 14,73,210 samples were tested on Thursday. And, as many as 26,34,76,625 samples have been tested across the country till April 15.
Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country stands at 11,72,23,509 till today.
The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus in the country on Monday. Now, India has three vaccines Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V for its inoculation programme against COVID-19.
From April 2, the government started vaccinating all people above 45 years. India started its vaccination drive on January 16 with priority given to all healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase. The second phase started on March 1 where doses were administered to people above the age of 60 and those between 45 and 59 years with specific comorbidities.