Centre asks states to take pre-emptive action to control emerging spread of Covid infection

Amid rising cases of Covid, the Centre asked eight states including Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra to maintain a strict watch and take preemptive action in any area of concern to control any emerging spread of infection.

Underlining that Covid is still not over, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in a letter to Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Haryana and Delhi urged them to remain cautious against laxity at any level saying that may nullify the gains made in pandemic management so far.

The country has been witnessing a consistent rise in COVID-19 cases since March, with 10,262 cases reported in the week ending April 20. A rise in positivity rate has also been noted across the country, with 5.5 per cent positivity reported in the week ending April 19 against 4.7 per cent positivity reported in the previous week, Bhushan said.

While the rates of hospitalization and deaths due to COVID-19 have remained low, states or districts reporting higher number of cases may indicate a possible localized spread of infection thus necessitating a closer look at these states or districts (high daily cases and/or high-test positivity rates) and the need to institute requisite public health measures to control and contain such surges in the initial stages, he said.

It is also critical to ensure timely and regular updating of data to assist in accurate monitoring of the situation. It is essential that the State must maintain a strict watch and take preemptive action if required in any area of concern to control any emerging spread of infection. Regular monitoring and follow-up action are crucial, Bhushan said.

He also urged them to focus on maintaining adequate levels of testing (especially in emerging hotspots, ILI and SARI cases) in all the districts while maintaining the recommended share of RT-PCR and Antigen tests.

The focus should be in areas reporting high case positivity and new clusters of cases, Bhushan said and asked them to increase the number of Covid-positive samples sent for Whole Genomic Sequencing through the INSACOG network of laboratories, especially from any new clusters of cases detected in the community.

Bhushan said Maharashtra has reported an increase in weekly cases from 774 in week ending April 13 to 872 in the week ending April 20. The state reported a positivity rate of 6.87 per cent in week ending April 19.