Parliamentary Standing Committee to discuss Covid-19 situation

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs will be meeting on Wednesday to discuss the Covid-19 situation and its management in the country.

The committee will meet Health Ministry officials and AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria to discuss the issue. The Rajya Sabha website said the committee will be meeting on August 19 to discuss "management of the Covid-19 pandemic and related issues".

The committee is headed by Congress leader Anand Sharma and is likely to discuss the initiatives taken by the central government for the management of the pandemic, said sources.

In the last meeting held in July, the committee members asked the officials about high prices of medicines used to treat coronavirus and the members had also raised the issue of black marketing of medicines.

The meeting gains significance with both the Houses preparing for the monsoon session of Parliament while adhering to social distancing norms.

India's coronavirus tally crossed the 27-lakh mark on Tuesday with 55,079 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, while the death toll climbed to 51,797 with 876 more fatalities, said the Health Ministry.

Out of the total 27,02,742 cases, recoveries have surged to 19,77,779 with 57,937 more people recuperating in the past 24 hours, taking the recovery rate to nearly 73.17 per cent. The actual caseload of the country is the active cases, which currently stands at 6,73,166.

The country had touched the 20-lakh mark on August 7 and added more than seven lakh cases in 11 days.