Hospitals in India to run 2-day drills to prepare for Covid outbreak

New Delhi: Hospitals across India are expected to participate in a nationwide mock drill to test out preparedness to deal with increasing Covid-19 cases. The drill is happening on April 10 and 11.

Both public and private facilities will be participating.

Officials said that Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will visit AIIMS, Jhajjar tomorrow to oversee the drill. He has also urged state health ministers to visit hospitals to oversee the mock drills and review the preparedness with district administrations.

Despite the increase of XBB.1.16 from 21.6% to 35.8% in March, an increase in hospitalisation or mortality was not reported. "The five-fold strategy of 'Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate and adherence to Covid-Appropriate Behaviour' continues to remain the tested strategy for Covid management irrespective of new variants," said the minister.

In a virtual meeting with state health ministers, and principal and additional chief secretaries, the union minister stressed the need to identify emergency hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases. He also recommended increasing testing, genome testing, vaccination, and creating awareness about Covid-appropriate behaviour.

"The World Health Organisation (WHO) is closely tracking a variant of interest (VOI), XBB.1.5, and six other variants are under monitoring (BQ.1, BA.2.75, CH.1.1, XBB, XBF and XBB.1.16)," said a statement from the health ministry. While Omicron and its sub-lineages continue to be the predominant, most assigned variants have little or no significant transmissibility, disease severity, or immune escape.