The city is spending tens of millions of dollars to build the paediatric units and is already procuring ventilators, monitors and other medical equipment, Chahal said. Apart from these units, the government is also in talks with hospitals to increase the number of paediatric beds and ICUs.

The paediatric task force, led by Dr Suhas Prabhu, plans to train about 660 paediatricians on how to handle children affected by COVID-19, and then broaden the training to more staff. The third wave might not end up affecting children greatly, but cities like Mumbai cannot afford to be caught off guard, Prabhu said.

“Creating micro containment zones and distributing medicines at the doorstep of the people is a good initiative. We have to follow the initiative comprehensively in villages,” the PM said. “Bringing doctors, labs and e-marketing companies together to provide a telemedicine facility named ‘Kashi Kavach’ is also a very innovative initiative,” he said.