Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday informed that of the top 10 districts having the most active COVID-19 cases in the country, seven are from Maharashtra, one from Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, and Delhi, each.
Addressing a press conference, Bhushan said, "Of the top 10 districts having most of active COVID cases, seven districts are from Maharashtra, one from Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Delhi each," he said.
India reported over 96,000 cases and 440 related deaths in the last 24 hours. Currently, there are 7,88,223 active cases in the nation.
The Health Secretary further said that death numbers being reported in Punjab and Chhattisgarh are the cause of extreme concern.
"Of all the active cases in the country, 58 per cent of active cases are in Maharashtra. 34 per cent of the total deaths have been reported in Maharashtra," he said.
"We have suggested the state governments to increase the percentage of RT-PCR (Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) tests, which is reducing in Maharashtra in the last few weeks. Only 60 per cent of total tests were done through the RT-PCR method in Maharashtra last week. We suggest states take it to 70 per cent or above," Bhushan mentioned.
He said that Chhattisgarh is a cause of concern. "Despite being a small state, it reports 6 per cent of total COVID cases and 3 per cent of total deaths in the country. The condition of Chhattisgarh has deteriorated in the second wave of infections," he added.
"In Punjab, around 4.5 per cent of deaths are reported due to COVID. Compared to Punjab, active cases and death toll are very low in Delhi and Haryana. It is satisfactory that share of RT-PCR tests in average daily tests has increased to 76 per cent in Punjab," Bhushan added.
The central government has already deployed 50 high-level multidisciplinary public health teams in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab. They will be going to 30 districts of Maharashtra, 11 districts of Chhattisgarh, and nine districts of Punjab.
The teams will assist state health department and district administrations in surveillance, control and containment measures. They will be submitting daily reports to state government and union health ministry, Bhushan said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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