New Delhi: The Union health ministry on Thursday said there is no need to panic over the availability of COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE), but stressed these should be used rationally.
Joint Secretary at the health ministry Lav Agarwal said at the daily briefing that 20 companies are manufacturing PPE in India and orders for 1.7 crore PPE have already been placed with them.
Since Wednesday, 540 cases of the coronavirus infection and 17 deaths due to it have been reported, he said.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in India is 5,734 and 166 people have died due to the disease, he said.
According to an ICMR official, 1,30,000 samples have been tested for COVID-19 so far in country.
"No need to believe any rumour or have any fear regarding PPE. Our guidelines state that not only PPE should be made available, but they should be used rationally," Agarwal said.
"It (PPE) should be used as per requirement, and as I have told you, I can use four N95 masks within a day, or I can use just one within a day. While the central government is augmenting supplies to the states, we are also requesting them to use them rationally," he said.
Orders for 49,000 ventilators have been placed and their supply is underway, Agarwal said and informed that 10 teams of COVID-19 specialists have been sent to nines states.
The official also said that the Indian Railways has produced about 6 lakh reusable face masks and over 4,000 litres of hand sanitiser.
It has also converted 3,250 coaches into COVID-19 isolation units with beds. Total 5,000 coaches are to be converted, Agarwal said.
Dashing hopes of a complete exit from the ongoing lockdown in one go, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the country is facing a "social emergency" like situation as well as serious economic challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After an interaction with Modi via video conference, several political leaders said the lockdown might not be lifted completely after April 14 and they were told by the prime minister that the pre-corona and post-corona life won't be the same.
A number of states also indicated extension of the lockdown, at least in the areas identified as hotspots of the deadly virus spread, while wearing masks or face cover was made mandatory in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Mumbai as also in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Karnataka said restrictions can be lifted in unaffected areas and sale of liquor can be allowed after April 14 to help generate revenues to fight the crisis.
Delhi government decided to completely seal off 20 hotspots, while Uttar Pradesh will do the same for seriously affected areas across 15 districts, including some in Noida and Ghaziabad on the outskirts of the national capital. With curfew-like restrictions, no one will be allowed to step out of their homes in the sealed areas including for essential services, with the authorities promising doorstep delivery of essential goods including grocery and medicines. Only medical vehicles would be allowed in these areas.
In Rajasthan, the state government decided to open mandis in a phased manner after end of the 21-day nationwide lockdown, which entered its 15th day.
More than 14 lakh people have tested positive since the virus outbreak in China last December, while over 80,000 have lost lives. However, China reported no fresh case on Tuesday and the lockdown in its Wuhan city, where the first case was found, has been lifted completely.
COVID-19, which stands for Coronavirus Disease 2019, is the name of the disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the Coronavirus family with crown-shaped spikes on its surfaces. The name of the disease was given by the World Health Organisation.
(With PTI inputs)
