Centre reviews Covid preparedness; asks states to undertake mock drills as active cases cross 10,000

As Covid cases continue to rise across the country, the Centre on Monday reviewed states' and Union Territories' preparedness for pandemic management and the progress of vaccination.

Active cases in the country crossed the 10,000-mark after recording over 1,800 new Covid cases for two consecutive days, health ministry data showed on Monday.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan who chaired the high-level meeting stressed on ramping up testing with a higher proportion of RT-PCR, and whole genome sequencing of positive samples.

He urged people to follow Covid-19-appropriate behaviour at all times and stressed on the need to increase administration of precaution dose, especially in the vulnerable population group.

The Health Secretary also cautioned states and UTs against any complacency and advised them to follow up on the priorities listed in a joint advisory issued by the Department of Health Research and the Department of Health and Family Welfare, according to a report by PTI.

States and UTs were briefed that India has been witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases with average daily cases rising to 966 in the week ending March 23 from 313 average daily cases in the week ending March 3, and the weekly positivity going up to 1.08 per cent during the same time.

The weekly positivity rate in Maharashtra has gone up to 4.58 per cent as on March 24 from 0.54 per cent in the week ending March 3, health ministry data showed.

In Gujarat, the positivity rate stood at 2.17 per cent, up from 0.07 per cent. In Kerala, it shot up to 4.51 per cent from 1.47 per cent, while Karnataka witnessed the average weekly positivity rate rise to 3.05 per cent from 1.65 per cent. In Delhi, the weekly positivity rose to 4.25 per cent from 0.53 per cent.

Bhushan advised states to undertake mock drills across all health facilities on April 10 and 11 to ensure operational readiness of hospital infrastructure, including oxygen cylinders, PSA plants, ventilators, logistics and human resources.

India reported 1,805 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, thereby taking the active caseload over 10,000-mark, according to Union health ministry data updated on Monday.

The active cases now comprise 0.02 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid recovery rate has been recorded at 98.79 per cent, according to the health ministry's website.

A latest government data shows a 3.5-fold rise in tally in two weeks, in states that were already recording high caseload. Four districts in Delhi, two each in Kerala and Maharashtra and one in Gujarat recorded the highest weekly test positivity rate (TPR).

(With PTI inputs)

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