COVID-19 Spike: Central Teams To Visit Odisha And Three Other States

Bhubaneswar: Concerned about the sudden surge in COVID-19 positivity and fatality rate in four states, including Odisha, the Union Health Ministry will send high-level Central teams comprising health experts to these states.

Odisha apart, the other states are Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

The Central teams will help bolster the state’s efforts in strengthening containment, surveillance, testing and efficient clinical management of coronavirus positive cases and guide them in effectively managing the challenges related to timely diagnosis and follow-up.

Each of the multi-sectoral teams will comprise of an epidemiologist and a public health expert.

Of these four states, Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of active cases at 54,666, followed by Odisha (27,219), Chhattisgarh (13,520) and Jharkhand (11,577).

In terms of total cases till date, Uttar Pradesh has 2,25,632 followed by Odisha (1,00,934), Jharkhand (38,435) and Chhattisgarh (30,092).

Uttar Pradesh has reported most number of deaths (3423) among the four, while the figures for Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are 482, 410 and 269, respectively.

The Centre has been closely monitoring the situation and deputing Central teams from time to time to visit various states and UTs to interact with the authorities and get a first-hand knowledge of challenges and issues being faced by them.