We were prepared beforehand to tackle COVID-19: Dr Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi [India], April 23 (ANI): Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said that India was prepared beforehand to tackle the coronavirus after he participated in a video conference held by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
"In the presentation made today, I told the world how India -- before the first case emerged on January 30 -- had already conducted a meeting with our experts on January 8 when China reported the coronavirus. We issued a detailed health advisory on January 17, and then we started community surveillance," said the Union Health Minister.
He added: "I have also informed them about how the mortality rate in our country is lesser in comparison to other countries and even our doubling of cases rate is better than the rest of the world (8.78 per cent)."
With regard to the vaccine to combat the deadly virus, Dr Vardhan said: "We have isolated the virus. We are now progressing towards coming up with a vaccine. We are also conducting a genetic sequencing of the COVID-19 in order to develop test kits that take less time to detect the virus."
He said that start-ups and entrepreneurs have also been asked to pitch in with ideas to develop devices. "We are also providing support to young start-ups, entrepreneurs, and researchers to develop assistant devices and ventilators," he said.
Talking about the personal protection equipment (PPE) kits, he said: "We have prepared over 100 manufacturers in the country and within two days only, we are manufacturing close to one lakh PPE kits in the country."
"With a graded, pre-emptive, and proactive strategy, we will fight the COVID-19. We are sure that we would be successful," he concluded.
With an increase of 1,229 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of cases reached 21,700, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.
The tally is inclusive of 16,689 active cases, 4,325 patients have been cured/discharged and migrated, while 686 patients who have died due to the deadly virus. (ANI)