The Union Health Ministry has directed states to ramp up healthcare infrastructure to tackle any surge of COVID19 cases.

In a letter to states, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has said to take stock of existing hospital capacities in terms of bed availability, logistic requirements as well as need for re-orientation of healthcare workers in the clinical management of COVID19 to remain prepared for any surge in cases.

"This may be conducted by ‘dry runs’ in hospitals," Bhushan stated.

Bhushan further directed states to ensure higher samples for whole genome sequencing amongst positive samples of COVID19 in the community so as to enable timely detection of new variants, if any in the country.

The Health Secretary has directed states to ensure monitoring and reporting of district wise influenza like illness and severe acute respiratory illness cases in health facilities on a regular basis including in the IHIP portal, for detecting the early rising trend of cases. These cases may also be tested for COVID19.

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