PM Modi reviews COVID-19 situation in Varanasi

New Delhi [India], April 18 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday reviewed the COVID-19 situation in Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh through video conferencing, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.
According to a statement issued by the PMO, during the meeting, the Prime Minister was apprised about testing, the availability of beds, medicines, vaccine, and manpower etc. for the prevention of coronavirus and proper treatment of infected patients.
He directed the officers to provide all possible assistance to the public at the earliest, said the statement.
During the discussion, the Prime Minister specifically stressed upon adherence to "Do Gaj Doori Mask Hai Zaroori " by all the people. Emphasising the importance of vaccination, the Prime Minister said that the administration should make all people above 45 years of age aware of this. He also asked the administration to provide all possible assistance to the people of Varanasi with full sensitivity.
The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to all the doctors and medical staff of the country and said that even in the time of crisis, they are following their duty faithfully. He said that learning from the experiences of the last year, we have to be cautious.
The Prime Minister said that as a representative of Varanasi, he is also constantly taking feedback from the general public. He said that the expansion and modernisation of medical infrastructure in Varanasi in the last 5 to 6 years has helped in fighting Coronavirus. With this, the availability of beds, ICUs and oxygen is being increased in Varanasi.
Stressing upon 'Test, Track and Treat', the Prime Minister said that like the first wave, the same strategy has to be adopted to win over the virus. He also emphasised on making contact tracing and test reports of infected persons available at the earliest. He directed the officials to discharge all the responsibilities towards patients living in home isolation and their families in a sensitive manner.
Praising Varanasi NGOs, the Prime Minister said that the way they worked with the government should be encouraged. He again stressed the need for greater vigilance and caution in view of the situation.
The statement issued by the PMO said that through video conferencing, public representatives and officials of Varanasi informed the Prime Minister about the preparations made in the district for the protection and treatment of COVID-19.
In this regard, the Prime Minister was informed about the control room set up for contact tracing, command and control centre for home isolation, dedicated phone line ambulance, telemedicine arrangement from the control room, deployment of the additional rapid response team in urban areas, etc, said the statement.
As per the PMO's statement, the Prime Minister was informed that so far 1,98,383 persons have been given the first dose and 35,014 persons have been given both doses of vaccination for protection from COVID.
MLC and Varanasi COVID in-charge AK Sharma, Divisional Commissioner Deepak Agarwal, Commissioner of Police A. Satish Ganesh, District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma, Municipal Commissioner Gaurang Rathi, Chief Medical Officer N. P. Singh, Director I. S. S. B. H. U. BR Mittal, Ministers of State Neelkanth Tiwari and Ravindra Jaiswal, Rohaniyan MLA Surendra Narayan Singh and MLCs Ashok Dhawan and Laxman Acharya were also present dUring the meeting held through video conferencing.