Govt tells states reporting Covid spike to monitor, contain spread

In a letter, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan pointed to the states’ “higher contribution to lndia’s daily new cases”, and advised them to strictly adhere to the Centre’s five-fold strategy of test, track, treat, vaccination, and adherence to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.

The Union government on Friday directed five states — Kerala, Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi and Mizoram — reporting slight surge of Covid-19 cases to continue to monitor the spread of the infection and accordingly undertake prompt measures.

According to the HT dashboard, in the last 24 hours, India has reported 1,152 Covid-19 cases and 83 fatalities.

In a letter, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan pointed to the states’ “higher contribution to lndia’s daily new cases”, and advised them to strictly adhere to the Centre’s five-fold strategy of test, track, treat, vaccination, and adherence to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.

“Adequate testing as per guidelines and undertake required steps in areas reporting high case positivity; monitoring of lnfluenza-like illness (lLl) and SARI cases in all health facilities on a regular basis for detecting early warning signals of the spread of infection. Genomic sequencing for prescribed samples of international passengers, collection of samples from sentinel sites (identified health facilities), and local clusters of cases . Vaccination of all eligible people..,” the letter said.

“Testing and surveillance still remain important to track the virus, its spread and evolution,” it added.

According to the HT dashboard, in the last 24 hours, India has reported 1,152 Covid-19 cases and 83 fatalities. Of this, Kerala reported 353 infections, Delhi 146, Maharashtra 130, Mizoram 123 and Haryana 67.