Centre rushes health teams to Maha, Punjab amid Covid case spike
AS PER MINISTRY DATA, THERE ARE 6,661 ACTIVE CORONAVIRUS CASES IN PUNJAB AND 90,055 CASES IN MAHARASHTRA
NEW DELHI: The Centre has rushed high-level multi-disciplinary public health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab in view of the increase in number of daily Covid-19 cases being reported by these states.
The teams are being deployed to assist State Health Departments in coronavirus surveillance, control and containment measures, the Union health ministry said.
The high-level team to Maharashtra will be led by P Ravindran, Sr CMO, Disaster Management Cell, MOHFW. While the public health team to Punjab will be led by S K Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, it said.
The teams will visit the (Covid-19) hotspot areas in the states and ascertain reasons for the surge in cases, the ministry said.
According to the ministry data, there are 6,661 active coronavirus cases in Punjab and 90,055 cases in Maharashtra. They will also brief chief secretary/secretary (health) on their observations and remedial measures to be undertaken by the respective state health authorities.
In a meeting held on Saturday, the Centre asked states and union territories witnessing surge in new COVID-19 cases and high active caseload to continue with the strategy of “test, track and treat” that had yielded rich dividends at the height of the pandemic and accelerate vaccination for priority population groups in districts reporting higher infections on mission mode.
The states have been asked to collaborate with private hospitals to open up vaccination timetable for a minimum of 15 days and maximum of 28 days at a time.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and NITI Aayog Member (Health) Vinod K Paul on Saturday interacted with health secretaries and mission directors of the National Health Mission of Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh, the Union Health Ministry said. “These states and UTS have in the recent past seen increased positivity and increased number of daily positive cases,” it underlined.
The Union government has been leading the fight against Covid-19 pandemic with a ‘Whole of Government’ and ‘Whole of Society’ approach under the umbrella strategy of ‘Cooperative Federalism’, the ministry said.
As ongoing efforts to strengthen the initiatives of various state and Union territory (UT) governments for COVID management, the government has been deputing central teams from time to time to visit various states/uts.