Centre sounds Covid-19 alarm in Bihar, poll-bound states; situation under close watch

India's Covid-19 recoveries have crossed 79 lakh-mark, the highest in the world, but what has baffled many is the low infection level in Bihar, which witnessed hectic campaigning for assembly elections till last week.

On Tuesday, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the Centre had reached out to Bihar and other states, where bypolls were held, to underscore the importance of Covid-appropriate behaviour, particularly in rural areas.

“We had also deputed central teams to Bihar and other states going to bypolls and sought time-bound follow-up action,” Bhushan told reporters.

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Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka had witnessed feverish election campaigns with little regard for social distancing norms or wearing of masks.

“We had shared the reports of the central teams with the states and we had drawn attention to certain points, where time-bound follow-up action was required by the state,” the Health Secretary said.

“The cause for satisfaction for us is that when we drew the attention of the states, they did act on it to rectify the defects,” he said.

Read: 10 key takeaways from Bihar Election results 2020

However, according to Bhushan, full impact of the measures taken would take time to manifest itself.

“What has happened in Bihar in the last 10 days or so would take time to manifest itself, either in terms of new numbers or in terms of any other development. This is something that requires close watch,” Bhushan said.

He also noted that Bihar had tested 1.15 crore samples for Covid-19, of which a large part comprised rapid antigen tests.

India has been conducting 11 lakh tests on a daily average and had tested nearly 12 crore samples till date – the second highest in the world.

According to Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava, Delhi-NCR was witnessing a third spike since the pandemic broke out in March with the national capital reporting more than 6,000 cases daily.

Bhargava said a concoction of several factors such as air pollution, cold weather, ongoing festival and marriage season, inter-district movement with disregard of social distancing norms have led to a sharp rise in infections in the national capital.