New Delhi: At least 10 states are witnessing an upsurge in infections and positivity, the Centre warned on Saturday as it urged districts reporting a Covid-19 positivity rate of over 10 per cent in the last few weeks to consider stricter restrictions to prevent or curtail people’s movement and crowding.
With 46 districts showing more than 10 per cent positivity rate while another 53 showing positivity between five and 10 per cent, the Centre has urged the states to ramp up their testing for detection of Covid-19.
The Health Ministry said it was forcefully underlined that any laxity at this stage will result in the deterioration of the situation in these districts. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan chaired a high-level meeting on Saturday to review the Covid-19 situation in Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur.
The public health measures taken for surveillance, containment and management of Covid-19 by the health authorities in these states were also reviewed. These states are either reporting a rise in daily Covid cases or a rise in positivity. The Health Ministry, in a statement, said, “All districts reporting positivity rate of more than 10 per cent in the last few weeks need to consider strict restrictions to prevent/curtail the movement of people, formation of crowds and intermingling of people to prevent the spread of infection.” Noting that more than 80 per cent of active cases in these states are reported to be in home isolation, it said there is a need to effectively and strictly monitor these cases so that they do not meet other people and spread the infection. “The people in home isolation should be effectively monitored in such a manner to ensure that those who require hospitalization are seamlessly transferred for timely clinical treatment. “Detailed standard operating procedure covering various facets of effective clinical management of COVID-19 patients in hospitals have been earlier shared with the states for prompt shifting and effective hospital management,” the Centre told states.
