What is Centre's 5-fold strategy to check Covid-19 spread?

To control the Covid situation, the Centre has asked states to follow the five-fold strategy

Despite the overall Covid-19 situation at the national level improving, certain states and districts across the country continue to report a high number of cases. In this light, the Centre on Saturday asked states to continue following the five-fold strategy to curb the spread of the virus.

The states have also been asked by the Centre to extend Covid-19 curbs until the end of September.

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Here's what the five-fold strategy consists of:

1. As per the five-fold strategy, the number of Covid-19 tests need to be increased. It also states that more than 70 per cent of the tests need to be done via RT-PCR to get the most accurate result as it has found “Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) to be mostly deployed”.

2. The second part of this strategy asks for effective isolation of Covid positive persons and efficient contact tracing. As per its guidelines, at least 30 contacts of a Covid positive person need to be traced, tested, and also isolated within 72 hours.

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3. Healthcare infrastructure needs to be upgraded to avoid overworking of the healthcare staff.

4. Ensuring Covid-19 appropriate behaviour in crowded places and gatherings.

5. And finally, the five-fold strategy includes a targeted vaccination approach in districts reporting more positive Covid-19 cases.