Over 20,400 foreign nationals have been evacuated from India amid the coronavirus crisis and any decision on bringing Indians from abroad will be taken at a later stage after reviewing the situation, the government said on Friday.
It also maintained that there is no community transmission in the country so far. A study by apex medical research body ICMR found that 40 people out of a total of 104 coronavirus patients with severe acute respiratory infection had contracted the infection without having any recent international travel history or contact with any confirmed cases of the disease.
Responding to a question over this study, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal told reporters, "No community transmission has happened in the country so far. If there would be, we would be first to tell you so as to alert people."
Amid concerns over the export of hydroxychloroquine, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that India has received requests from several countries for the tablet and keeping a sufficient buffer of stocks, a decision has been taken to export some surplus medicines. The anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine has been cited by many as a viable therapeutic solution for fighting the coronavirus infection.
Addressing the daily press briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country, MEA Additional Secretary Dammu Ravi said, "There were requests from governments of several countries. We have successfully evacuated 20,473 foreign nationals as of yesterday."
"This is an ongoing process. Some questions have come about Indians abroad. It is a situation where we cannot give a definite answer because the lockdown is still there. We need to assess the situation It will be the government's decision on how we manage the return of Indians from other countries," he said.
"Our ambassadors and high commissioners in all these countries are in regular touch with all Indians abroad and giving all support to them. The MEA COVID control room helplines are active, teams are taking calls and guiding them in these matters. The situation is under control. We will review at a later stage about their return," Ravi said.
According to Agarwal, India has a stock of 3.28 crore tablets of hydroxychloroquine, which is three time more than the projected requirement of one crore tablets in the country for the coming one week and that tie-ups have been made for additional supply of two to three crore tablets for the future need.
"Domestic requirement and production of hydroxychloroquin has been 100 per cent ensured, not even for today but for coming times as well. Also, two crore tablets have been sent to states to ensure their availability in the private sector," Agarwal said assuring that there is no shortage of the medicine in the country.
Ravi, who is also also the COVID-19 coordinator, said that hydroxychloroquine is in high demand globally and the decision for exporting the drug to the first list of countries which had put in a request has been approved after proper review.
Certain medicines were in the restricted list and others in the prohibited list. Based on review by the Committee of Secretaries and by the Group of Ministers, restrictions were lifted on many medicines.
"Several countries have made requests for this particular drug. Taking into view the domestic stocks available and keeping sufficient buffer for our own requirement, a decision was taken by GoM to release some surplus medicines for export purposes.
"The first batch of list of countries have been approved and now we are working on the second and third list. I want to emphasise that the domestic requirement and necessity will be a priority for the government," Ravi said.
"We should follow social distancing and the do's and don'ts. A total of 16,002 tests were conducted yesterday and only 0.2 per cent of the cases have tested positive On the basis of the samples collected, the infection rate is not high," he said adding rapid diagnostics kits have also been sanctioned for conducting coronavirus tests.
An ICMR official said 146 laboratories are functional in the public sector while 67 private labs have been given approval for testing of COVID-19.
"A total 144910 samples have been tested till 9 PM on Thursday," he said.
Reacting to the attack on frontline healthcare workers, Agarwal said people should not misbehave or attack those who are rendering service even amid the risk of contracting the deadly infection stating that will "bring their morale down". He reminded how people had enthusiastically expressed their solidarity with the healthcare professions during the Janta curfew on March 22.
He further said 39 PPE manufacturers are available in the country today; adding PPEs have been procured and given to states, due to which they have double the stock available with them compared to what they had two months back.
Around 20.4 lakh N-95 masks have been supplied to the states and further procurement has already been initiated to address future requirements. Also, an order for 49000 ventilators has been placed and stock is being taken for future requirements, he said.
"We don't expect any shortage of N95 masks at the field level," he said.
The officials also maintained that rumours and media reports claiming protocol has been issued by Railways regarding passenger travel for post-lockdown are speculative and incorrect.
Agarwal further informed that Health Minister Harsh Vardhan reviewed actions and preparedness for COVID-19 management through video conference with health ministers, chief secretaries/health secretaries of all states and union territories on Friday.
Vardhan suggested that there is a need to make dedicated COVID-19 hospitals in each district of the country and notify them as soon as possible so that people are informed about them.
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