Covid: Union Health Secretary writes to five states, urges stricter vigil

Amid a rise in Covid cases in a number of regions in India, five states have been asked by the Centre to take necessary actions.

It may be mentioned here that the recent rise in cases has led to increasing fears of a possible fourth wave of the pandemic in the country.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, in a letter, asked Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra and Mizoram to keep a strict eye on cases.

The states have been asked to continue monitoring the spread of infection and undertake prompt steps if need be.

In view of a rise in cases last week in these regions, Bhushan asked the five states to take pre-emptive measures whenever required.

"A sustained and significant decline in the number of Covid-19 cases has been observed in lndia over the past 2 months, with the country reporting less than 1,000 daily new cases for the past few days. Further, weekly positivity rate has remained below 1 per cent," the letter said.

The centre wants these five states to a) monitor clusters of new cases, b) do enough testing, and c) monitor influenza-like illness and SARI cases in all health facilities on a regular basis.