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The Centre has written to eight states–Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Maharashtra and Haryana, expressing concern over the spurt in Covid cases here while asking them to boost surveillance and ramp-up hospital infrastructure too.
These states either have a high Covid-load, or a positivity rate higher than the national average or districts which have high Covid cases and high positivity rates, upwards of 5 per cent.
In a letteraddressed individually the Chief Secretaries of these States, Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary has instructed them to “closely monitor” Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) and Influenza-like Illness (ILI) trends, increase testing, submit more samples for genome sequencing, and promote precautionary doses.
States have also been asked to encourage vaccine uptake among eligible beneficiaries, counter vaccine hesitancy through community awareness, and promote early-symptom reporting, testing, and adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviours, including avoiding overcrowded and poorly ventilated settings and wearing masks.
India reported 11,692 fresh coronavirus infections and 28 deaths in a single day, the Health Ministry said on Friday. The number of active cases now stand at 66,170. The daily positivity rate has reached 5.09 per cent, with the weekly positivity rate at 5.33 per cent.
State-specific concerns
Bhushan, in his letter to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary, said, the State saw a near 150 per cent rise in Covid cases over a one-week period. Weekly cases shot up from 279 in the April 7-13 to 696 in April 14-20. Positivity rate at 2.19 per cent was lower than the national positivity rate though. Gautambudh Nagar or Noida has highest positivity rate in UP at over 22 per cent.
Haryana saw cases near doubling to 910 per week, from 445 a week-ago; with the positivity rate being at 19.28 per cent. Yamunanagar has a positivity rate of 56.50 per cent, the highest in the country.
Delhi also saw a near doubling of cases to 1,471 for the period under review, with the positivity rate nearing 29.65 per cent. East Delhi has the highest positivity rate of 35.10 per cent, followed by South Delhi at 34.50 per cent.
For Rajasthan, the weekly cases have increased 140 per cent during the period under review, to 435 (from 181) and the positivity rate is of 5.81 per cent. Dungarpur has a positivity rate of 39.30 per cent.
In case of Tamil Nadu, weekly cases have shot up from 356 last week, to 510 in the week-ending April 20, up 43 per cent. The State reported a positivity rate of 6 per cent for this week, higher than the national average. In the State, there are 11 districts that have reported positivity rate higher than 10 per cent and 12 districts where the positivity rate is between 5 and 10 per cent.
In Maharashtra, while the increase in weekly cases is not as alarming as others, just around 13 per cent increase to 872, the positivity rate hovers around the 7 per cent range. Red flags have been raised regarding 17 districts that have a positivity rate of 5-10 per cent or above 10 per cent with Nagpur having the highest positivity rate of 15.20 per cent, Mumbai having a positivity rate of 13.20 per cent and Greater Mumbai at 11.10 per cent.
In case of Karnataka, the concern has been raised specifically for the Bengaluru Urban area where the positivity rate is 6.7 per cent.
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