The Centre on Saturday advised states and UTs reporting an increase in coronavirus cases to enforce COVID-appropriate behaviour by dealing firmly with violations and ensure effective surveillance in case of potential super spreading events so as not to squander last year’s gains. Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired a high-level review meeting with chief secretaries of states and UTs of Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Telangana and Jammu and Kashmir.
“They were advised not to lower their guard, enforce COVID-appropriate behaviour and deal firmly with violations. It was strongly underlined that they need to follow effective surveillance strategies in respect of potential super spreading events,” the Union Health Ministry said in a statement.
At the meeting, the cabinet secretary stressed upon the need for effective testing, comprehensive tracking, prompt isolation of positive cases and quick quarantine of close contacts. States were advised to undertake vaccination on priority in districts reporting higher cases and monitor mutant strain and clustering of cases for early hotspot identification and control.
The states have also been asked to improve the overall testing in districts reporting a reduction in testing, and increase RT-PCR tests in districts having high antigen testing. The states and UT were asked to refocus on surveillance and stringent containment in selected districts reporting reduced tests/high positivity and increased cases.
They have also been asked to focus on clinical management in districts reporting higher deaths and promote COVID-appropriate behaviour to ensure effective citizen communication to not let complacency set in, especially in light of vaccination drive entering the next phase, and enforcing stringent social distancing measures.
India’s total COVID-19 active caseload is 1,59,590 which is 1.44% of the total infections. Six states — Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat — have shown a surge in new cases in a span of 24 hours, the Ministry of Home Affairs has underlined.
Maharashtra has been a worrisome case, with 28 of its 36 districts recording a whopping spike in the daily coronavirus caseload in the past two weeks, up from 21 districts in the past 10 days. Districts in the Marathwada region like Latur, Hingoli, Parbhani, and Nanded are adding large numbers of active cases.
The state has continued to report the highest daily new cases at 8,333. It was followed by Kerala that reported 3,671 new cases and Punjab with 622 new cases. The ministry said 85.75% of 16,488 new cases registered in a span of 24 hours are from six states and UTs. “Eight states are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases,” the ministry said.
“In the last two weeks, Kerala has shown the maximum decline in the number of active cases, from 63,847 on February 14 to 51,679 today, while Maharashtra has shown the highest rise in active cases in the same period, from 34,449 on February 14 to 68,810 currently,” the ministry added.
The second dose of COVID-19 vaccination started on February 13 for those beneficiaries who completed 28 days after receipt of the first dose. The vaccination of the FLWs started on February 2. As on Day 42 of the vaccination drive (February 27), a total of 7,64,904 vaccine doses were given. Out of these, 3,49,020 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 13,397 sessions for first dose (HCWs and FLWs) and 4,20,884 HCWs received the second dose of the vaccine.
Eight states account for 62.75% of the cumulative second dose vaccinations in India. Uttar Pradesh alone accounts for 12.64% (3,10,058) of the total second dose vaccinations in India, the ministry said. Nine states and UTs have administered the first vaccine dose to less than 60% of the registered healthcare workers. These are Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Telangana, Ladakh, Chandigarh, Nagaland, Punjab and Puducherry.
Twelve states and UTs have reported vaccination coverage of more than 65% frontline workers. These are Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Lakshadweep, Rajasthan, Kerala and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The ministry said 12 states and UTs have reported vaccination coverage of less than 40% of the frontline workers. These are Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Meghalaya, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Nagaland, Goa and Mizoram.
A total of 1,07,63,451 people have recovered so far, with 12,771 patients having been discharged in a span of 24 hours. “India’s COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.17 per cent is among the highest in the world,” the ministry said.