New Delhi: India is in a much better position than other countries in the fight against COVID-19 as a result of ‘right decisions taken at the right time’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday. The prime minister asserted that India has expanded its health infrastructure at a rapid pace to deal with the pandemic.
Speaking after virtually launching COVID-19 testing facilities in Noida, Mumbai and Kolkata, the prime minister said that in the fight against coronavirus, India has come to a point where it does not lack in awareness, its scientific data is expanding and resources are also increasing.
Due to the ‘right decisions taken at the right time’ in the country, India is in a much better position than other countries in the fight against the pandemic, he said. The deaths due to the coronavirus in India are much lower than many other countries, Modi said.
Noting that India’s recovery rate is also higher than other countries and is improving on a daily basis, Modi said the total number of people who have recovered from the virus is about to reach the 10-lakh mark.
The virtual launch event was attended by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh – Uddhav Thackeray, Mamata Banerjee and Yogi Adityanath.
Prime Minister Modi said it was imperative for the country to develop corona-specific health infrastructure at a fast pace and pointed out that this was the reason that the Centre had announced a package of Rs 15,000 crore at the beginning of the COVID-19 battle. The country now has more than 11,000 COVID facilities and more than 11 lakh isolation beds, Modi informed.
“While the country had only one COVID testing centre in January this year, there are almost 1,300 such labs now,” informed Modi he said.
At present, more than five lakh tests are being conducted in the country daily, and efforts are underway to increase this capacity to 10 lakh in the coming weeks, stated the prime minister.
Modi also noted that the country has become the second largest PPE kit manufacturer and has progressed from not having even a single PPE kit manufacturer as recently as six months ago, to having more than 1,200 manufacturers now, who are producing more than five lakh such kits daily.
The prime minister also highlighted that from being dependent on imports, now more than three lakh N-95 masks are being produced India daily, annual production capacity of ventilators has become three lakh and there has also been a significant increase in the production of medical oxygen cylinders. This has not only helped save lives but has also converted India from an importer to an exporter, he observed.
