The Health Ministry has deputed Central teams to five States, including Karnataka and Kerala, which have been reporting a surge in Covid-19 cases in recent days, to assist State authorities in surveillance, infection prevention and efficient clinical management, an official statement said here on Friday.

Each team, comprising a Joint Secretary, a public health expert and a clinician, will support States’ efforts towards strengthening containment, surveillance, testing, infection prevention and control measures and guide the States in effectively managing the challenges relating to timely diagnosis and follow-up.

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High positivity rates

Currently there are nearly 8.05 lakh active Covid-19 cases in the country. While 70,338 people recovered from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, 63,371 contracted the infection. Nearly 900 people died of Covid-19 during the same period, taking the total death toll so far to 1,12,161.

Kerala, with 94,609 active Covid-19 cases, accounts for 11.8 per cent of the current active infections. At 16.6 per cent, the State’s positivity rate is one of the highest in the country, even though Kerala is among those States that have lowest mortality rates.

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Similarly, Karnataka currently accounts for 14.1 per cent of the total active cases in the country. It has a case fatality rate of 1.38 per cent while its current positivity rate is pegged at 11.5 per cent. The South Indian State has so far reported a little over 10 per cent of the total confirmed cases of 73.7 lakh.

Other States to which the Central teams have been sent are Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. Chhattisgarh too has a high positivity rate of 10.4 per cent, which is much higher than the national average.

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