Nationwide drill in hospitals on Mon, Tue to check Covid preparedness

Amid rising COVID-19 cases, a nationwide mock drill to take stock of hospital preparedness will be held on April 10 and 11 in which both public and private facilities are expected to participate.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will visit AIIMS, Jhajjar on April 10 to oversee the mock drill, officials said on Sunday.

In a review meeting held on April 7, Mandaviya had urged state health ministers to visit hospitals and oversee the mock drills.

He had also advised them to review the preparedness with district administrations and health officials on April 8 and 9.

In the meeting with state health ministers, and principal and additional chief secretaries held virtually, Mandaviya had stressed the need to identify emergency hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases, ramping up testing and vaccination, and ensuring readiness of hospital infrastructure.

Besides enhancing genome sequencing and ramping up whole