Impose strict restrictions to curb virus spread, Centre tells states

Govt stresses the need of strict restrictions in districts witnessing a positivity rate of more than 10 per cent; states also told to ‘ramp up vaccination in 60+ and 45-60 age categories’

Ten states are seeing an upsurge in virus cases, the government said on Saturday, stressing on the need of strict restrictions in districts witnessing a positivity rate of more than 10 per cent.

Apart from focusing on strict containment measures, states were also told to “ramp up vaccination in the 60+ and 45-60 age categories as evidence shows near 80 per cent of the mortality is from these vulnerable age-group.”

The Centre’s fresh review comes amid concern over a third Covid wave.

Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur are the states that are either witnessing a surge in new Covid cases or a rise in positivity rate, the Union Health Ministry said in a statement.

With 46 districts recording more than 10 per cent positivity rate, and 53 districts recording a positivity rate between 5-10 per cent, states have been told to ramp up testing.

“Any laxity at this stage will result in deterioration of the situation in these districts,” the Centre has warned.

The measures were discussed at a review meet held by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan that was also atended by the Indian Council of Medical Research’s Director General Dr Balram Bhargava, besides top health officials from the states.

“All districts reporting positivity rate of more than 10 per cent in the last few weeks need to consider strict restrictions to prevent or curtail the movement of people, formation of crowds and intermingling of people to prevent the spread of infection,” an official statement read.

While 80 per cent of the new patients reported by these states are under home-isolation, local authorities have to make sure that they strictly monitor such cases to break the chain of transmission, the government said.

“The people in home isolation should be effectively monitored in such a manner to ensure that those who require hospitalisation are seamlessly transferred for timely clinical treatment.

“Detailed SOPS covering various facets of effective clinical management of COVID-19 patients in hospitals have been earlier shared with the states for prompt shiting and effective hospital management,” a statement by the Health Ministry read.

Ater India saw a massive shortage of medical oxygen at the peak of the second wave, the states have been reminded today to ask private hospitals to set up PSA (Pressure swing adsorption) oxygen generation plants.

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan will on Saturday review the situation in 10 states, including Kerala, where cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are on the rise even as the rest of the country has reported fewer infections, officials said.

The Centre has already rushed a six-member multi-disciplinary team to Kerala which will monitor the Covid-19 pandemic situation there and suggest measures to control the spread of infection in the southern state.

The team of experts headed by Dr Sujeet Singh, the director of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), reached Thiruvananthapuram on Friday night.

“There are many concerns, rise in positivity rate is one. Cases are declining everywhere and transmission is continuing in Kerala,” Singh, Director, who is a part of the team, said earlier.

“Let us discuss this with the state. It is a comprehensive situation, let us see how things unfold,” he said.

Kerala reported more than 20,000 fresh infections on Friday, which is 50 per cent of India’s total single-day Covid-19 tally, for the fourth consecutive day. The state’s test positivity rate has risen to 13.61 per cent.

Sitabhra Sinha of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences said controlling an outbreak is much easier when the R-value is near one and the number of active cases of Covid-19 remains in the range of a few hundred.

“India’s overall active cases are fluctuating too much to get a reliable estimate, but data is pointing at a value close to one. It may tip over either way in the coming few days,” Sinha said.

In Maharashtra, there were 6,600 new Covid-19 cases and 231 deaths on Friday pushing the caseload in the state to 62,96,756 and the death toll to 132,566.