The central government has written to Delhi, Haryana, Mizoram, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh, requesting that they test-track-treat-vaccinate and adhere to COVID acceptable behaviour, with a special emphasis on wearing masks in crowded settings, because COVID cases in these states are on the rise.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to these states, saying that a few states are reporting a bigger contribution to India’s cases and higher positive. “Continue to monitor the spread of infection and take the necessary actions for quick and successful management of COVID-19,” he said.
According to Bhushan, states should keep an eye on clusters of new COVID-19 cases and take preventative measures to stop the virus from spreading. They should also monitor influenza-like diseases at all health facilities on a regular basis, in addition to testing, to discover early warning signs of virus transmission.
“They should conduct genetic sequencing for mandated samples of foreign travellers, as well as sample collection from sentinel locations (recognised health facilities and sewage samples) and local clusters of cases,” the report stated.
“Maintain a careful watch and take pre-emptive action to stop any growing spread of infection,” the ministry advised the states. The Centre had also written to these five states on April 8, when COVID instances began to rise.
The union health secretary wrote to Delhi’s principal secretary, Manisha Saxena, saying it had reported a rise in weekly new cases from 998 in the week ending April 12 to 2,671 in the week ending April 19. In Delhi, the optimism rate jumped from 1.42 percent to 3.49 percent in the preceding week.
The number of new cases in Haryana increased from 521 to 1,299 each week. The state’s positive rate increased from 1.22 percent to 2.86 percent.
