Covid surge: Centre asks states to keep strict vigil, take pre-emptive action

Amid the rising covid cases in the country, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan in a letter has advised eight states including Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra to look into the spread of coronavirus seriously and take pre-emptive action in areas of concern to control the spread of infection. reported the news agency PTI.

Saying the covid is not over in the country yet, Rajesh Bhushan wrote to the heads of Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Haryana and Delhi to remain vigil and avoid the spread of the disease.

There has been a rise in covid cases in India since March. On the week ending India witnessed 10,262 covid positive cases with a positivity rate of 5.5 percent against 4.4 percent reported in the previous week.

Stating the issue is a cause of concern the letter further says that timely updation of data related to the covid is vital to monitor the situation, precisely and urged them to focus on maintaining adequate levels of testing (especially in emerging hotspots, ILI and SARI cases) in all the districts while maintaining the recommended share of RT-PCR and Antigen tests.

The state heads were also advised to encourage people for precautionary doses among eligible persons and engage in community Awareness to counter vaccine hesitancy.