The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday expressed that the number of novel coronavirus deaths in Punjab and Chhattisgarh is a cause of "extreme concern" amid the surge in Covid-19 cases across the country.
During a routine health briefing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, "Death numbers being reported in Punjab and Chhattisgarh are cause of extreme concern." He also added that of all the active cases in the country, 58% of active cases are in Maharashtra while 34% of the total deaths have been reported in the worst-hit state as well.
Premium The ministry informed that of the top 10 districts having most of active COVID cases, seven districts are from Maharashtra, one from Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Delhi each.
Highlighting the situation of Chhattisgarh in particular, the ministry further said the despite being a small state, the state reports 6% of total COVID cases and 3% of total deaths in the country.
"The condition of Chhattisgarh has deteriorated in the second wave of infections," Bhushan added.
For Punjab, the government stressed around 4.5% of deaths due to COVID are being reported in Punjab. "It is satisfactory that share of RT-PCR tests in average daily tests has increased to 76% in Punjab," Bhushan said.
The ministry also said that compared to Punjab, active cases and death toll are very low in Delhi and Haryana.
"We have suggested state governments to increase the percentage of RT-PCR tests, which is reducing in Maharashtra in last few weeks. Only 60% of total tests were done through RT-PCR method in Maharashtra last week. We suggest states to take it to 70% or above," Bhushan further said during the press briefing.
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Premium Premium "An unusual situation of rise in number of cases is being witnessed in the country; with the increase in number of cases, mortality is also increasing," said senior government official and NITI Aayog member V K Paul.
On Covid-19 vaccinations doses, the government added that Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal among states that administered maximum number of COVID vaccine doses.
Meanwhile, the daily rise in new coronavirus infections in India remained above 90,000 for the third consecutive day taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally of cases to 1,26,86,049, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.
A total of 96,982 cases have been reported in a span of 24 hours, while the death toll increased to 1,65,547 with 446 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.
The 446 new fatalities include 155 from Maharashtra, 72 from Punjab, 44 from Chhattisgarh, 32 from Karnataka, 15 each from Delhi, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, 13 from Uttar Pradesh, 12 each from Kerala and Rajasthan, 11 from Tamil Nadu and 10 from Jharkhand.
A total of 1,65,547 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 56,033 from Maharashtra, 12,789 from Tamil Nadu, 12,657 from Karnataka, 11,096 from Delhi, 10,348 from West Bengal, 8,894 from Uttar Pradesh and 7,244 from Andhra Pradesh and 7,155 from Punjab.
On Monday, the Union Health Ministry of Family and Welfare on Monday rushed 50 public health teams to Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab for COVID-19 control and containment measures.
The teams are being rushed to 30 districts of Maharashtra, 11 districts of Chhattisgarh and 9 districts of Punjab to assist the State Health Department and local authorities in COVID-19 surveillance, control and containment measures, said Health Ministry in a statement.
The two-member high-level team consists of a clinician/epidemiologist and a public health expert. The teams will visit the States immediately and monitor the overall implementation of Covid-19 management, especially in testing, including surveillance and containment operations; COVID Appropriate Behavior and its enforcement; availability of hospital beds, sufficient logistics including ambulances, ventilators, medical oxygen etc., and COVID19 vaccination progress.
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