Combating COVID-19 : Centre sets up 11 empowered groups

The central government on Sunday set up 11 empowered groups for ensuring a comprehensive and integrated response to COVID-19, government sources said.

"The central government on Sunday set up 1111 empowered groups for ensuring a comprehensive and integrated response to COVID-19. These empowered groups have been set up under the Disaster Management Act. The Department of Expenditure has issued special instructions to enable expeditious decision making in procurement matters," sources said.

Sources told that each group has a senior representative from PMO and Cabinet Secretariat to ensure seamless coordination.

"Out of these 11 empowered groups, 8 are headed by Secretary level officers while 2 by NITI Aayog members and 1 by CEO of NITI, Aayog. The groups have been empowered to formulate plans and to take all necessary steps for their time-bound implementation," sources added.

The Central government had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in a bid to stop the spread of the deadly virus that has left several thousand dead globally. In India, the virus has infected 1024 people so far.