Amid rise in Covid cases, Centre asks 6 states to take measures for prompt management

'It is essential that the state must maintain a strict watch and take pre-emptive action if required,' the Union Health Secretary said

With nearly 1,200 new Covid-19 cases reported within a week, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday wrote to six states including Karnataka urging them to keep a close watch on emerging local clusters, actively promote the precautionary third dose of the vaccine among the eligible and continue with genetic sequencing to check if a new strain is emerging.

Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Telangana are other states that received the warning letter from Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, who asked the states to monitor influenza-like illnesses and severe acute respiratory infections cases in all health facilities or through dedicated fever clinics for detecting early warning signals on the spread of infections.

India recorded 2,081 new Covid cases in the week ending March 6. But the count rose sharply to 3,264 in the subsequent week ending on March 15 – an increase of 1182 new cases. Almost 82 per cent of these cases are from these six states.

Karnataka registered 493 new cases last week, but the number rose to 604 a week later. Similarly, fresh Covid cases in Kerala increased from 434 to 579 in the same period.

The case positivity in Karnataka (2.77 per cent) and Kerala (2.64 per cent) are also way above the national average of 0.61 per cent.

Maharashtra, which was the epicentre during the first two waves, reported 668 cases this week as against 355 last week with a positivity of 1.92 per cent. In Tamil Nadu, the fresh infection count stood at 258 this week as against last week’s 170 with a positivity of 1.99 per cent.

"It is essential that the state must maintain a strict watch and take pre-emptive action if required in any areas of concern to control the emerging spread of infection," Bhushan wrote.

The fresh warning comes days after the World Health Organisation reminded the world that the pandemic was far from over even after three years. As of March 12, there are over 760 million confirmed cases and over 6.8 million deaths globally, according to the UN health agency.

The WHO South-East Asia Region reported over 13 000 new cases, a 14 per cent increase as compared to the previous 28-day period. Two of the 11 countries in the region logged more than 20 per cent increases in new cases in the same period: India (6374 vs 3078 new cases; a rise of 107 per cent), and the Maldives (21 vs 15 new cases: 40 per cent increase).

Last week while writing to the states on seasonal flu, Bhushan drew the states’ attention to a gradual rise in the Covid-19 test positivity rates. “Such a rise is a concerning issue that needs to be addressed promptly,” he had noted.