NEW DELHI: The central government has written to Delhi, Haryana, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh as COVID cases in these states show a rising trend and has asked them to test-track-treat-vaccinate and adhere to COVID appropriate behaviour with special emphasis on wearing of masks in crowded areas.
In a letter to these states, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said a few states are reporting a higher contribution to India’s cases and higher positivity. He asked the states to “continue monitoring the spread of infection and undertake required steps for prompt and effective management of COVID-19”.
Bhushan said that the states should monitor clusters of new COVID-19 cases and take containment efforts to cure the spread of infection. Apart from testing, they should also monitor influenza-like illnesses in all health facilities regularly to detect early warning signals of the spread of infection.
“They should undertake genomic sequencing for prescribed samples of international passengers, collection of samples from sentinel sites (identified health facilities and sewage samples) and local clusters of cases,” it said.
The ministry also asked the states to “maintain a strict watch and take pre-emptive action to control any emerging spread of infection”. The Centre had written to these five states on April 8 as well when COVID cases had started showing an upward surge.
In the letter to Delhi’s principal secretary, Manisha Saxena, the union health secretary said it has reported an increase in weekly new cases from 998 new cases in the week ending April 12 to 2,671 new cases in the last week ending April 19. The positivity rate also increased from 1.42 per cent to 3.49 per cent in the previous week in Delhi.
Haryana reported an increase in weekly new cases from 521 to 1,299. The state also saw a rise in positivity rate from 1.22 per cent to 2.86 per cent.
