Centre Writes To 8 States: Pandemic Not Over, Keep An Eye On COVID Cases

New Delhi: With COVID-19 infections on the rise in India and 11,692 fresh cases being reported on Friday, the Central government is on its toes.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to eight states urging them to keep a close watch on the COVID-19 situation amid rising positivity rate.

“The pandemic is still not over, and we must remain cautious against laxity at any level, which may nullify the gains made in pandemic management so far,” stated Bhushan’s letter to Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Haryana and Delhi.

The letter pointed out that though hospitalisation and deaths due to COVID have remained low, states and districts reporting higher number of cases could indicate a localised spread of infection.

“This has necessitated a closer look at these states and 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,” Bhushan wrote.

According to Health Ministry data, the number of districts in these states with over 10% positivity rate are — UP (1), Tamil Nadu (11), Rajasthan (6), Maharashtra (8), Kerala (14), Haryana (12) and Delhi (11).

The eight states have been advised to strengthen COVID surveillance in all districts and monitor trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases. Also, they have been told to send higher number of positive samples for whole genome sequencing through the INSACOG network of laboratories.