At a high-level meeting, PM Modi takes stock of coronavirus situation

As the second wave of coronavirus sweeps through India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took stock of the situation relating to oxygen availability, medicines and health infrastructure in the country at a high-level meeting.

The Prime Minister instructed officials to work closely with state governments to start the PSA oxygen plants at the earliest. 

"During the meeting, three empowered groups have given presentation to the PM," the prime minister's office said on Tuesday.

The meeting was attended by Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary, Secretary RT&H, Secretary I&B, Secretary Pharmaceuticals, and other senior officials.

India's cases dipped slightly on Tuesday, but remained above 300,000. The country also reported a massive 2700-plus deaths in the last 24 hours.

The Empowered Group working on boosting oxygen supply briefed the Prime Minister on the efforts being made to ramp up availability and supply of oxygen in the country. 

They informed the PM about increasing allocation of oxygen to states. The domestic production of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) is expected to cross 9,250 MT per day by the end of April 2021.

Modi was also briefed about the functioning of the "Oxygen Express" service as well as the domestic sorties and international sorties undertaken by IAF to transport oxygen tankers.

The Empowered Group working on medical infrastructure and Covid management briefed the PM on efforts being undertaken to ramp up availability of beds and ICUs. 

PM stressed on the need to ensure that specific guidelines and strategies evolved regarding Covid management needs to be properly implemented by the relevant agencies in the states.