Centre calls for stricter action to control Covid spread

NEW DELHI: Raising concern over certain districts reporting high Covid positivity rate, the Centre has called for stricter action to control the spread.
Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to eight States with high positivity rates urging them to take urgent action to bring down cases and also share the details of the actions taken as per the Disaster Management Act.
Among the States that have received the communication sent out by health ministry were Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Kerala, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Odisha and Sikkim. These states have the maximum number of districts with above 10% positivity.
“Although the trajectory of daily new cases of Covid-19 has come down substantially in the country, there is a need for continued monitoring of weekly case positivity, as well as cases trajectory in each district to identify any early warning signals of spread of infection,” Bhushan said in the letters written to State Chief Secretaries.
For instance, the letter to chief secretary of Arunachal Pradesh – which has the highest 19 out of its 25 districts reporting over 10% positivity rate - pointed out the concern that the easternmost State of India reported a weekly positivity rate of 16.2% in the week from June 28-July 4. The positivity rate in the State was increasing over the last four weeks, Bhushan said. The state reported 12% rise in weekly new cases.
Similarly, Bhushan’s letter to Jishnu Bharua, Chief Secretary to the Assam government, expressed concern that 29 out of 33 districts in the State reported more than 100 new cases in the week ended on July 4.
The Centre emphasised on the need for stricter containment measures, ramping up testing, health infrastructure planning, effective clinical management and vaccination ramp up.
“It is imperative to note that containment is the most crucial strategy of flattening the current curve. It is critical to plan effective containment measures and implement them stringently, and to strengthen the efforts made for prompt contact tracing of the close contacts of positive cases and immediate quarantine or isolate all suspected and confirmed cases as per the health ministry guidelines,” the letters said.