Centre sends teams to six states with high caseloads

New Delhi: Amid rising concern about certain states reporting a higher number of cases, the Centre issued strict warning on Friday against any lowering of guard as the second wave is still not over and sent teams to half a dozen states. The Centre asked states to identify districts where weekly positivity rate is above 10% or bed occupancy is over 60% and impose highest level of restrictions for at least 14 days to break the chain of transmission.

"The second wave is not over. Though there is an overall decline in cases, some states are still reporting a high number of cases. We are not safe till the entire nation is safe. There is a need to contain the virus locally in districts where positivity is high," NITI Aayog member, health, Dr V K Paul said.

While the overall weekly positivity has dropped to 3.1%, 71 districts still have positivity rate over 10%. The Centre has deputed teams to Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Manipur that are reporting a high number of Covid-19 cases. The teams — consisting of clinician and public health experts — will assess the situation and suggest remedial actions.
Govt stresses on containment measures

The government stressed that states need to implement containment measures along with ramping up vaccination and following Covid-appropriate behaviour even as economic activities are opening up with an overall decline in new cases.

Paul also highlighted that many countries where cases had declined are now again witnessing a surge.

The overall incidence of Covid-19 has declined significantly. During June 26-July 2, the average daily cases were at 46,258, 13% less against last week (June 19-25). Only 100 districts now reporting more than 100 cases per day, official data shows.

On Thursday, 46,617 new cases were recorded from across the country, whereas the active caseload has come down to nearly 5 lakh cases. Fifty six cases of Delta Plus variant (AY.1) have been detected in 12 states till June 30.