Centre’s fresh advisory to UTs, states as Covid, flu see uptick
Amid a spike in Covid-19 cases and seasonal influenza, the Centre on Saturday issued a fresh advisory to states and Union Territories on maintaining optimum testing for Covid-19 as the country sees spikes in the number of cases.
The government is planning a nationwide mock drill on April 10 and 11 to take stock of hospital preparedness.
According to a joint advisory issued by the Union health ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday, both public and private health facilities in all districts are expected to participate in the exercise aimed at taking stock of availability of medicines, hospital beds, medical equipment, and medical oxygen.
The country, meanwhile, recorded a single-day rise of 1,590 fresh coronavirus cases, the highest in 146
days, while the number of active cases of the infection climbed to 8,601. The death toll due to the viral disease has gone up to 5,30,824 with six more fatalities—three reported from Maharashtra and one each recorded in Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand.
The exact details of
mock drill shall be communicated to the states in the virtual meeting scheduled on March 27, the advisory stated.
The joint advisory highlighted that in the past several weeks, Covid-19 testing has declined in some states and the current testing levels are insufficient as compared to the standards prescribed by the World Health Organisation, i.e. 140 tests per million.
Testing at the levels of districts and blocks also varies, with some states heavily relying on the less sensitive rapid antigen tests.
The advisory signed by Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan and director general of ICMR Dr Rajiv Bahl stated that a gradual but sustained increase in the trajectory of Covid-19 cases in the country has been witnessed since mid-February.
As of now, most of the active Covid-19 cases in the country are largely being reported by a few states like Kerala (26.4 per cent), Maharashtra (21.7 per cent), Gujarat (13.9 per cent), Karnataka (8.6 per cent), and Tamil Nadu (6.3 per cent).
The Union ministry of health has already issued detailed guidelines for the management of co-infection of Covid-19 with other seasonal epidemicprone diseases.