New Delhi: The central government has directed six states to examine the increasing covid-19 situation at the micro level and surveillance, test, and monitor new and emerging covid clusters.
Over the past few weeks, India has seen a rise in covid-19 cases, with a total of three thousand plus cases in the week that ended 15 March.
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Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala are the six states which have been reporting a continuously high number of cases.
“There are few states which are reporting a higher number of cases indicating the possible localized spread of infection and there is a need to follow a risk assessment-based approach to prevent and contain the infection without losing the gains made so far in the fight against the pandemic,” Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in a letter.
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Maharashtra has reported an increase in weekly cases from 355 to 668 with a positivity rate of 1.92 per cent.
According to the Health Ministry, Karnataka reported a rapid rise in weekly cases ending 15 March. The state reported a positivity rate of 2.77 per cent, higher than India’s positivity rate of 0.61 per cent.
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“It is advised that State should examine the situation of COVID-19 at the micro level (district and sub-districts) and maintain focus on the implementation of necessary measures for prompt and effective management of Covid-19 duly ensuring effective compliance with various advisories issued by this Ministry. The five-fold strategy, i.e., Test-Track Treat-Vaccination should be followed with a continued focus on adequate &proactive testing as per guidelines, monitoring new and emerging clusters of new Covid-19 cases along with monitoring the trend of Influenza-like illness (ILI) & SARI cases in al health facilities or through dedicated fever clinics regularly for detecting early warning signals of the spread of infection,” Bhushan said in a letter.
The ministry has also given directions to the states to continue genomic sequencing for prescribed samples of international passengers, collection of samples from sentinel sites, and local clusters of cases, enhance the pace for administration of booster shots for those who are eligible beneficiaries, and ensure that states must maintain a strict vigil in any areas of concern to control the spread of infection.
