Govt asks 11 municipal areas accounting for 70% Corona case load to step up monitoring
NEW DELHI: Eleven municipal areas in seven states and union territories that have accounted for 70 per cent of India's coronavirus case load were asked by the government on Saturday to step up monitoring in old cities, urban slums and other high density pockets like camps and clusters for migrant workers for management of COVID-19 cases.
These 11 municipal areas are from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan and account for 70 per cent of active case load, the Union health ministry said.
Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan who held a highlevel meeting through video conferencing with principal health secretaries and municipal commissioners along with other officials from the 11 municipal areas urged them to focus on prevention through active screening of high risk and vulnerable population along with effective and sturdy clinical management of the admitted cases to reduce fatality rate.
The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 3,720 and the number of cases climbed to 1,25,101 in the country on Saturday, registering an increase of 137 deaths and a record jump of 6,654 cases in a 24-hour span till 8 AM, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 69,597 while 51,783 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. "Thus, around 41.39 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said.
During the meeting, a presentation was made to highlight the trend in case trajectory with respect to total confirmed cases, case fatality rate, doubling time, tests per million and confirmation percentage, the ministry said.
"It was told that major challenge lies in those corporations having shorter doubling time, higher mortality rate and a higher confirmation rate than the national average," the ministry said in its statement.
The officials were briefed about the factors to be considered while mapping the containment and buffer zones and the activities mandated in containment zone like perimeter control, active search for cases through house to house surveillance, contact tracing, clinical management of the active cases. They were also asked to undertake surveillance activities in the buffer zone like monitoring of SARI/ILI cases and promoting social distancing and hand hygiene among others.
"Maintaining high vigilance and monitoring in areas of old cities, urban slums and other high density pockets along with the camps/clusters for migrant workers are important steps in COVID-19 management in the urban areas," Sudan said.
The officials were also urged to focus on prevention through active screening of high risk and vulnerable population and groups, and effective and sturdy clinical management of the admitted cases to reduce fatality rate.