Lok Sabha Question No. 3137 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-08-06
Subject: Guidelines for the Possible Third Wave of Covid-19
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Uday Pratap Singh, Kunwar Danish Ali

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED Q. No 3137 TO BE ANSWERED ON 6 th AUGUST, 2021

## GUIDELINES FOR THE POSSIBLE THIRD WAVE OF COVID-19

## 3137:   SHRI UDAY PRATAP SINGH: KUNWAR DANISH ALI:

Will the Minister of Health and Family Welfare be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  the  Government  has  made  adequate  arrangements  for  Remdesivir  injections  and other  essential  medicines  along  with  guidelines  for  the  treatment  of  children  in  State/UTs keeping in view of the possible third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic;

(b) the steps taken by the Government to curb the laxity on the part of people for not adhering to COVID-19 appropriate behavior across the country;

(c) the number of cases of Delta and Delta plus variant reported across the country, State/UTwise; and

- (d) whether the virus is dominant even after vaccination and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the steps being taken to check the spread of Delta variant?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTERY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

(a):  Health  is  a  state  subject.  Ministry  of  Health  and  Family  Welfare  (MoHFW)  is  supporting States/ UTs with requisite technical support besides providing financial and logistic support to upgrade health infrastructure for managing COVID cases in children and also for addressing any surge in Paediatric COVID cases in future.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has issued 'Guidelines on Operationalization of  COVID Care Services for Children & Adolescents' on 14th June 2021 and'Guidelines for Management of COVID19 in Children (below 18 years)' on 18th June 2021. These guidelines

were disseminated to States/ UTs followed by orientation meetings.The Operational guidelines have detailed list of drugs required for Paediatric COVID care at various levels of facilities.

A  Drugs  Coordination  Committee  (DCC)  has  been  constituted  as  an  institutional  mechanism under Department of Pharmaceuticals for efficient decision making on all the issues with respect to COVID-19 related drugs including their availability through inter-departmental consultations.

All  States/UTs  and  State  Drugs  Controllers  have  been  requested  to  verify  stock  of  drugs  and check  other  malpractices  and  take  effective  steps  to  curb  hoarding  and  black  marketing  of emergency drugs.

A  COVID  Drugs  Management  Cell  (CDMC)  has  been  set  up  in  the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) to oversee the management of smooth supply of drugs used in COVID19 management.

During  the  FY  2020-21,  funds  to  the  tune  of  Rs.8257.88  crore  has  been  released  to  the States/UTs towards the India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package.

In  addition,  'India  COVID-19  Emergency  Response  &  Health  System  Preparedness  Package: Phase-II' has also been approved by the Cabinet with Rs 23,123 crores (with Rs. 15,000 Cr as Central Component & Rs 8,123 Cr as State component) and is to be implemented from 1st July 2021 to 31st March 2022. So far Rs. 1827.78 crore has been released to States/UTs in 2021-22 under ECRP Phase-II in FY 2021-22.

It  includes  support  to  State/UT  level  for  ramping  up  Health  Infrastructure  including  those  in rural, tribal and peri-urban areas closer to the community, providing support for procurement of drugs  and  diagnostics  to  enhance  service  delivery  at  district  and  sub  district  levels  for management of COVID-19 cases (including pediatric care) and for maintaining a buffer of drugs, support  for  IT  Interventions  such  as  implementation  of  Hospital  Management  Information System  and  expanding  access  to  tele-consultations  in  all  districts,  and  support  for  capacity building and training for all aspects of management of COVID-19.

Under the National COVID Vaccination Program, Government of India is procuring vaccines and providing them free of cost to States and UTs. As on 5 th August 2021, a total of about 48.93 crore  doses  have  been  supplied  to  States/UTs  from  all  sources  i.e.  Government  of  India's COVID vaccine supply free of cost to all States/UTs, State/UTs and Private Hospitals procured COVID vaccine.

(b):  Ministry  of  Health  and  Welfare  has  also  issued  'An  Illustrated  Guide  on  COVID Appropriate  Behaviour'  and  several  other  materials  are  placed  on  Ministry  website  for  wide circulation.

Ministry of Home affairs has issued orders from time to time under Disaster Management Act, 2005directing States/UTs governments to ensure adherence to COVID appropriate behavior as part of National directives for COVID-19 management.

Ministry  of  Health  and  Family  Welfare  has  also  shared  various  IEC  materials  including Paediatric  COVID  Care  with  States/  UTs  to  generate  awareness  on  COVID-19  appropriate behavior.

(c) and (d): As on 04 th August 2021, total of 83 cases of delta plus variant have been reported in India, State/ UT wise detail is placed at Annexure.

(e):To monitor the variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus, initially genomic sequencing was conducted through  National  Institute  of  Virology,  Pune.  Subsequently,  Government  of  India  established Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortium (INSACOG) in December 2020 as a consortium of 10 laboratories of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Dept. of Biotechnology, Indian Council of  Medical  Research  (ICMR) and  Council  of  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research  (CSIR).    The network of INSACOG laboratories has since been increased to 28.

While  monitoring  the  prevalence  of  variants  through  the  network  of  labs,  as  per  advice  from experts it is noted that the public health measures to manage the Pandemic in the field and the treatment  protocol  remain  the  same  and  the  five-fold  strategy  of  test-track-treat-vaccinate  and COVID appropriate behavior is to be followed at the field level.

| Delta Plus (includes AY.1, AY.2 and AY.3) as on 04/08/2021   | Delta Plus (includes AY.1, AY.2 and AY.3) as on 04/08/2021   |
|--------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|
| State / UT                                                   | No. of reported cases                                        |
| Andaman Nicobar                                              | 0                                                            |
| Andhra Pradesh                                               | 2                                                            |
| Assam                                                        | 1                                                            |
| Arunachal Pradesh                                            | 0                                                            |
| Bihar                                                        | 0                                                            |
| Chandigarh                                                   | 4                                                            |
| Chhattisgarh                                                 | 0                                                            |
| Dadra Nagar Haveli                                           | 0                                                            |
| Delhi                                                        | 0                                                            |
| Goa                                                          | 0                                                            |
| Gujarat                                                      | 2                                                            |
| Haryana                                                      | 1                                                            |
| Himachal Pradesh                                             | 1                                                            |
| Jammu &Kashmir                                               | 1                                                            |
| Jharkhand                                                    | 0                                                            |
| Karnataka                                                    | 3                                                            |
| Kerala                                                       | 3                                                            |
| Ladakh                                                       | 0                                                            |
| Lakshadweep                                                  | 0                                                            |
| Madhya Pradesh                                               | 11                                                           |
| Maharashtra                                                  | 33                                                           |
| Manipur                                                      | 1                                                            |
| Meghalaya                                                    | 0                                                            |
| Mizoram                                                      | 0                                                            |
| Nagaland                                                     | 1                                                            |
| Odisha                                                       | 1                                                            |
| Puducherry                                                   | 0                                                            |
| Punjab                                                       | 2                                                            |
| Rajasthan                                                    | 1                                                            |
| Sikkim                                                       | 0                                                            |
| Tamil Nadu                                                   | 10                                                           |
| Telangana                                                    | 2                                                            |
| Tripura                                                      | 0                                                            |
| Uttar Pradesh                                                | 2                                                            |
| Uttarakhand                                                  | 1                                                            |
| West Bengal                                                  | 0                                                            |
| Total                                                        | 83                                                           |