The Centre has deputed high level multi-disciplinaryteams to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab,Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir forsupporting them in public health measures for targeted COVID response andmanagement, and effectively tackling the pandemic.
The three –member multidisciplinary teams are headed byJoint Secretary level officers in the Health Ministry. These teams will workclosely with the States/UT administration and ascertain reasons for recentsurge in the number of COVID19 cases.
They will also coordinate with health authorities of theStates/UT for requisite COVID19 control measures to break the chain oftransmission. The States/UT has been advised for regular critical review of theemerging situation with concerned District officials to ensure that gains madeso far in COVID management are not lost.
The Centre has also written to Maharashtra, Kerala,Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Union Territory of Jammu andKashmir which have been witnessing a rise in daily COVID cases, along withdecreasing proportion of RT-PCR tests and rise in positivity in some districts.
In the letter written by the Union Health Secretary, hehas exhorted Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjaband the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to focus on undertaking aggressivemeasures to break the chain of transmission and to ensure that RT-PCR testingis amplified to flush out hitherto undetected cases from the population.
These States/UT have been advised to increase testing ina focussed manner in the affected districts with the appropriate split ofRT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Tests and to also ensure that all symptomaticnegatives of antigen tests are compulsorily tested via RT-PCR tests.
The positive persons must be promptlyisolated/hospitalised, all their close contacts be traced and also testedwithout delay.
The Centre has reminded the States/UTs that any laxity inimplementing stringent measures to curb the spread, especially in view of newstrain of virus observed in certain countries, could compound the situation.
The Union Health Secretary has separately requested theChief Secretaries of these 10 States and UTs to provide time to these HighLevel Central teams to debrief the respective Chief Secretaries at theconclusion of their State visits.
These measures are in line with Government of India’sgraded and proactive approach to contain COVID across the country. The HealthMinistry has been regularly engaging with States and UTs that have beenexhibiting either a sudden surge in COVID cases, high caseload or reporting ahigher mortality in some districts.
The teams interact with the field authorities to get afirst hand understanding of the challenges and issues being faced by them.