MHA calls meet of NE states on July 7 to discuss Covid-19 situation

New Delhi, July 5 (PTI): The Union Home ministry has called a meeting of the Northeastern states and a few Union Territories on Wednesday to discuss the Covid-19 situation there, sources said.

This comes three days after the central government decided to send multi-disciplinary teams to six states, including Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura.

Union Home Secretary, Ajay Bhalla has called a meeting of top officials of the health department of the Northeastern states and a few UTs on July 7, official sources said on Monday.

The meeting is likely to be held through video conference.

It is expected to take stock of the overall implementation of Covid-19 management, especially in testing, surveillance and containment operations, Covid-appropriate behaviour and its enforcement, availability of hospital beds, sufficient logistics including ambulances, ventilators, medical oxygen and the vaccination progress, the sources said.

The meeting will be held as an ongoing effort to strengthen initiatives of various state and UT governments for Covid-19 management.

The central government has been deputing teams from time to time to visit various states and UTs for interacting with the state and UT authorities and get a first-hand understanding of the challenges and issues being faced by them so as to strengthen their ongoing activities and remove bottlenecks, if any, sources said.

The central teams make an assessment of the situation and suggest remedial actions on public health activities to the respective state governments.