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On Thursday, , the Union Health Ministry wrote to six States in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases and asked them to take immediate measures to prevent the spread of the infection.
The six States include Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Telangana, Gujarat, and Karnataka, and the Health Ministry has asked these States for better testing, tracking, treating, and vaccination.
“There are few States that are reporting a higher number of cases, indicating possible localised spread of infection, and there is a need to follow a risk assessment-based approach to prevent and contain the infection without losing the gains made so far in the fight against the pandemic,” the letter said.
More than 700 Covid cases were recorded in a day after a gap of over four months, bringing the active caseload to 4,623, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
Positivity rate
Most of these States have reportedly witnessed a positivity rate that is higher than the national average. For instance, in the March 8 to March 15 period, the positivity rate in Karnataka was 2.77 per cent compared to 0.61 per cent in India. In the case of Kerala, it was 2.64 per cent; in the case of Tamil Nadu, it was 1.99 per cent; for Gujarat, it was 1.11 percent; and for Maharashtra, it was 1.92 per cent, respectively.
Telengana had a 0.31 per cent positivity rate, but the numbers have more than doubled from 132 in the previous week (March 1–8) to 267 for the current week under review.
New clusters
The Union Health Secretary, Rajesh Bhushan, in his letter to these States stressed the need for monitoring of new and emerging clusters of new Covid cases, influenza-like illnesses, and severe acute respiratory infection cases. There needs to be stress on the genome sequencing of a prescribed sample of international passengers, the collection of samples from sentinel sites, and local cluster cases.
The push for a precautionary dose for all eligible beneficiaries and the following of Covid appropriate behaviour “in enclosed and crowded spaces” are being stressed.
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