Health Ministry asks States to implement district-level action plan to curb Covid spread

With many districts witnessing an emergence of clusters of Covid cases due to lack of Covid-appropriate behaviour in recent days, the Health Ministry has asked States to ensure each district should implement a ‘district action plan’ to curb the spread of the pandemic. This needs to be implemented, irrespective of whether a district is seeing a surge in cases.

In a letter written by Rajesh Bhushan, Health Ministry Secretary to the Chief Secretaries of all States, he has directed that under the action plan various measures should be taken, including mapping of cases based on surveillance and focussed testing, reviewing sub-area-wise indicators such as case positivity rates, rate of growth of cases, case fatality, and doubling rate of cases on a real-time basis.

The district authorities will also need to review the geographical spread of infection on a day-to-day basis, identifying possible source of the spread. “ An emergency operations centre with a team to monitor the indicators, their growth and spread 24x7 should be set up. The District Magistrate should review this two times a day and firm strategy for action,” the letter added. Cross-discipline and dedicated area-specific teams will also need to be set up following the principles of Incident Command System, it added.

It has also asked States to ensure mortality reduction at the district-level by examining indicators such as case fatality rate and its growth, locations of hospitals, and localities where deaths are high, among others.

Districts authorities will also need to ensure containment zones are formed in compliance with the SOPs prescribed by the Ministry.

Stating that the efficient implementation of ‘Test Track and Treat’ remains the only proven strategy to control the transmission, the Ministry said that in districts where there are clusters of cases, quarantining individuals and families will not help, and larger containment zones with clear boundaries and stringent controls should be set up.

“ Covid-appropriate behaviour must be enforced using Police Act, or powers under DM Act as applicable. Besides elected representatives, local influencers, celebrities, religious leaders should be roped in to ensure Covid appropriate behaviour,” the Ministry stated.

The Ministry has also stated that all districts with the high caseload and fast growth of cases must ensure 100 per cent saturation vaccination of the priority age group of 45 years and above in the coming two weeks, the letter added.

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