Ashwini Vaishnaw reviews Covid preparedness in all railway zones, divisions

In view of the recent surge in Covid cases across the country, Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw virtually held a Covid review meeting with the senior officials of various Railway zones and divisions on Monday. 

Indian Railways is preparing an all-out effort to fight against Covid, as the minister reviewed the preparedness of all zones and divisions to fight against the pandemic. "Reviewed the #COVID19 preparedness of all the Divisions and Zones of Indian Railways," tweeted the minister. 

During this meeting, Vaishnaw directed the officials to facilitate the use of Railway hospitals and health infrastructure for the general public. As per the information, the minister examined many aspects related to Covid preparedness. 

He emphasized strengthening the infrastructure of Railway Hospital, functioning of pediatric ward and vaccination of children and staff of Railways including provisioning of booster dose to frontline workers of Railways.

The minister also reviewed the availability of medicines, oxygen supply, zeolite stock and other necessary medical support and functioning of ventilators, Liquid Medical Oxygen Tanks, and other equipment which is critical in Covid treatment. It is notable that Railway has sanctioned 95 oxygen plants to provide a smooth supply of lifesaver gas to hospitals. 

Out of total sanctioned oxygen plants, 78 have already been commissioned and 17 are yet to be commissioned. Vaishnaw also directed the officials to increase the frequency of announcements at Railway stations to aware people of masking up, sanitization of hands and other precautionary measures. 

He also said that Railway staff must discourage entry of people without masks at stations and run drives to promote the wearing of masks and other precautionary measures. In this meeting, the running of special trains in case of emergency and sudden surge in the number of passengers at Railway stations during current situation of Covid has also been discussed. 

Meanwhile, India reported 1,79,723 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours, taking the daily positivity rate in the country to 13.29 per cent, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday. 

A total of 4,033 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus have been reported in the country so far.