New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired a high-level meeting to assess the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country and directed the officials that intensive containment and active surveillance should continue in clusters reporting higher cases.

The PM noted the achievement that 31 percent adolescents aged 15-18 years have been administered with the first dose of vaccine so far within seven days of the drive and urged to further accelerate the drive for adolescents in mission mode.

The Prime Minister stressed upon the need to ensure adequate health infrastructure at the district-level and asked officials to maintain co-ordination regarding this with the States.

The Prime Minister said that required technical support be provided to States, which are reporting higher cases presently.

Modi was first given a detailed presentation by the Health Secretary regarding ongoing preparedness of health infrastructure and logistics, status of the vaccination campaign in the country and the emergence of new Covid-19 variant Omicron and its public health implications.

The Health Secretary also gave presentation on the surge in cases currently being reported globally.

The Prime Minister was briefed on the status of Covid-19 in the country with regard to various States and districts of concern based on the surge in cases and high positivity rate being reported.

The Prime Minister highlighted the need to ensure effective usage of masks and physical distancing measures as a new normal to control the spread and exhorted the need for effective implementation of Home Isolation for mild/asymptomatic cases and to disseminate the factual information to the community at large.

The PM said that a meeting with CMs be convened to discuss State specific scenarios, best practices and the public health response.

The Prime Minister emphasised on the need to ensure continuity of non-Covid health services, while managing Covid cases presently. He also spoke about the need to leverage telemedicine to ensure availability of health related guidance to people in remote and rural areas.

He conveyed his gratitude for the relentless services provided by healthcare workers and suggested to ensure that the vaccination coverage through precaution dose for healthcare workers, front line workers should also be taken up in mission mode.

The PM also spoke about the importance for continuous scientific research in testing, vaccines and pharmacological interventions, including genome sequencing, given that the virus is evolving continuously.

Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Member (Health) of NITI Aayog V.K. Paul, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Home Secretary A.K. Bhalla and Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan were among those who were present in the meeting virtually.

Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, in a tweet, said over two crore children between the age group of 15-18 have been vaccinated against Covid-19 since Jan. 3. “Congratulations to all my young friends who got vaccinated,” he said.