The Panchayati Raj Ministry has geared up to address vulnerabilities of rural India in combating COVID-19 pandemic and issued an advisory for Panchayats. It has asked Panchayats to undertake an intensive communication campaign for the awareness of rural communities on the nature of the COVID infection and preventive and mitigation measures.<br />'' <br />''<span style="color: #222222;">The advisory asked people to provide suitable facilities with necessary protective equipment like finger oximeters, N-95 masks, infrared thermal scanning instruments and sanitisers. They have also been directed to display  information on availability of testing, vaccination centres, doctors and hospital beds on real-time basis to facilitate effective utilization of available infrastructure by the rural citizens.</span><br />