Centre writes to 4 states claiming Covid-19 upsurge but data shows rise in only two

The Union health secretary on Thursday asked four Opposition-ruled states to improve their Covid-19 management strategies claiming a recent upsurge, though the government data shows a clear decline in two out of four states and a nominal rise in the other two.

The top health ministry bureaucrat wrote to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal urging them to take steps to curb the spike in Covid-19 cases. “These states are reporting an upsurge in the number of daily news cases in recent days,” the ministry said in a statement.

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But the daily count of fresh Covid-19 cases maintained by the National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai — one of the Indian Council of Medical Research institutes — reveals a clear decline in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh while there is a bit of rise in Maharashtra and Kerala but the increase is far from a definitive spike.

The four states comprise 59% of the total active cases in the country.

In his letter, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan drew the attention of the states to the low and declining testing rates, stating that “any laxity at this crucial junction may squander the results of our collective actions in containing the transmission”.

They have been advised to analyse the surge at the district and sub-district levels to understand the reasons for rise and plan adequate measures proactively to curb the same.

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While the daily average cases in Kerala in the last seven days are 5,023, the data shared by the ministry showed that the numbers never really dipped in the Malabar state in the last one month. There was a lone instance of less than 3,000 daily cases on December 15 whereas the numbers were 3,000 plus in five days.

On every other day, the daily count varied between 4,000 plus to over 6,000.

In the case of Bengal and Chhattisgarh, the number of new Covid-19 infections witnessed a clear and steady decline whereas Maharashtra’s 7-day moving average for daily new cases rose from 1,953 new cases on December 22 to 3,707 on January 6.

A high-level central team led by S K Singh, director, National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi has been rushed to Kerala to review the public health interventions.