Centre rushes teams to states witnessing coronavirus surge
The Centre has deputed multi-disciplinary teams to states witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases, including Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir, to support them in effectively tackling the pandemic. The threemember multidisciplinary teams are headed by joint secretary level officers in the health ministry, the Union Health Ministry said.
"These teams will work closely with the states and UT administration and ascertain reasons for the recent surge in the number of COVID-19 cases. "They will also coordinate with health authorities of the states and UT for requisite COVID-19 control measures to break the chain of transmission," the ministry said.
The central teams have been deputed to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir.
The states and UT have been advised for regular critical review of the emerging situation with district officials concerned to ensure that gains made so far in COVID-19 management are not lost, the ministry stated.
The Centre has also written to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, MP, Gujarat, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir which have been witnessing a rise in daily COVID cases, along with decreasing proportion of RTPCR tests and rise in positivity in some districts.
Cases on the rise Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded an upsurge of 5869 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours and the fatalities in the state accounted for 51, almost half of the total 104 deaths in the country.
Kerala recorded the second highest 4823 new cases and the second highest 14 deaths, followed by 10 in Punjab and 6 in Tamil Nadu while Tamil Nadu came third in terms of new cases at much lower rate of 453.
The total new cases detected in India in 24 hours were 13,242 while the daily recoveries stood at 14,037. The cumulative number of persons discharged stood at 10.73 crore as against the detections with positive symptoms hitting 11.03 crore. The recovery rate is 97.25% while total deaths in the country stood at 1,56,567.