File photo: People walk past an art work displayed on a road urging people to stay home and maintain social distance during lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Hyderabad. (AP Photo)
The Home Minister said Indians will have to get used to living with the virus until a vaccine is developed, especially with the country moving into Unlock-1.
- News18.com New Delhi
- Last Updated: June 2, 2020, 12:02 AM IST
The national lockdown imposed on March 25 was used by Centre and states to ramp up and shore up medical facilities and the country is better placed to move towards ‘Unlock-1’ down to the district level, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told CNN-News18 in an exclusive interview on Monday. The Home Minister said Indians will have to get used to living with the virus until a vaccine is developed, especially with the country moving into Unlock-1.
“Now, facilities are in place in all districts. There are protocols in places across all districts and there has been training of home guards, policemen, panchayat members and health care workers. All this has enabled us to move towards Unlock-1,†said he said.
“We have used the lockdown effectively to ramp up and consolidate our medical and quarantine facilities. Till we don’t have a vaccine against this virus, we have to get used to living with it,†Shah added.
After imposing the national lockdown, the central government started collating a database of all the medical facilities and human resources available in the country. The central government had its task cut out and it had to ramp up bed capacity, supply of medical oxygen, ventilator supply, testing capacity, quarantine facilities and personal protective equipment (PPE).
The government placed orders for PPE and ventilators with a few foreign firms and also pushed domestic companies to ramp up production. It also invited bids for supply of medical oxygen since oxygen therapy is one of the key factors in treatment of Covid-19 patients, who become breathless in a critical state.
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