States asked to step up testing
NEW DELHI: The Union health ministry on Sunday directed all states that have seen a resurgence of new Covid-19 infections to again step up vigilance against the disease by scaling up testing, using more gold-standard RT-PCR tests, reinforcing strict containment strategies and closely monitoring for mutant strains.
The directions have been issued to Maharashtra ---that has seen a clear second wave of infections rising over the past fortnight --- Punjab, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
Punjab is rapidly assuming critical dimension in respect of the spread of Covid-19 infection, the health ministry highlighted, adding in the last four weeks, the weekly positivity rate in the state has increased from 1.4% to 1.6%.
NEW DELHI: India has recorded a steady rise in the Covid-19 active cases over the past few days with a surge in daily infections in five states, sparking fears of a second wave and prompting the Centre to direct these states to refocus on strict surveillance, containment and RT-PCR-testing.
Punjab is rapidly assuming critical dimension in respect of the spread of Covid-19 infection, the health ministry highlighted, adding in the last four weeks, the weekly positivity rate in the state has increased from 1.4% to 1.6%, while the weekly cases in the last four weeks have seen a rise from 1,300 to 1,682.
Maharashtra, which reported the highest number of daily cases, on Sunday announced a state-wide ban on social, political and religious gatherings, besides imposing fresh local lockdowns or curbs in districts like Pune and Amravati.
Along with Maharashtra, the states of Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab and the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir have also seen a surge in daily cases, according to the Union health ministry, which said 85.61% of the new cases are from these five states and their weekly positivity rate is more than the national average of 1.79%.
Maharashtra has the highest weekly positivity rate with 8.10 percent.
The Union health ministry has also written to all states and UTs on the need to significantly enhance the pace of Covid-19 vaccinations, while experts have cautioned against letting the guard down or factoring in “herd immunity” which could be “very difficult” to achieve due to the “variant strains”.
“Of late, it is seen that there has been a spike in the daily cases in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh also. Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir too are witnessing a surge in daily new cases,” the ministry said.
The five states which are now a cause of concern have been advised by the Centre to improve the overall testing numbers by focusing on increasing the proportion of RT-PCR tests.
“The infection was expected to re-surge. Therefore, people should not be complacent till the last man in the country is cured of the pandemic,” All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Bhopal, Director Dr Sarman Singh told PTI.
Six deaths, 348 new Covid cases in state
Six more people died from coronavirus in Punjab on Sunday as 348 fresh cases surfaced, taking the infection count to 178,459, a medical bulletin said. So far, 5,754 people have died from the infection in the state.
Punjab has seen an uptick in coronavirus cases for the past several days.