The Government of India has made an action plan for strengthening of surveillance networks to monitor the spread of COVID-19 in India. The information was passed by the Union Health Ministry.
Action plan:
♦ An action plan has been prepared by the GOI to strengthen surveillance with the help of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) national polio surveillance network team.
♦ The Ministry discussed the micro-plan for clusters and outbreak containment of COVID-19 at district-level was discussed.
♦ India has received 5 lakh testing kits, including rapid antibody test kits, from two Chinese firms for better monitoring and surveillance.
♦ The Ministry stated that 2 lakh rapid COVID-19 test kits received from China are not for early diagnosis, but for surveillance purposes.
COVID-19 update as of 16 April:
♦ A total of 2,90,401 COVID-19 tests have been conducted so far in India. The Ministry of Health reported that the total confirmed cases in India stand at 12,380, out of which 1,489 people have recovered. The fatality rate in India is 3.8%. GoI said that, as of 16 April, 941 fresh COVID-19 cases and 37 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours.
