New Delhi: At a time when India is going under unlock phase 4, the increasing number of Covid-19 active cases and deaths from five particular states have put the central government under a dilemma.
Aware of the fact, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhusan on Wednesday held a video conferencing with the principal secretary (health) and other concerned departments of Maharastra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu and reviewed the overall situation.
These five states account for more than 60 percent of total active cases with Maharastra leading the list with 29 percent of the active cases.
Officials in the Health Ministry told ETV Bharat that Bhushan during the meeting asked all the states to increase COVID testing and follow clinical management protocol.
"Reports keep coming from these states that many people having symptoms after conducting antigen tests, don't go for RT PCR test...we are afraid that there presence all other people could transmit the disease," said officials.
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Bhushan has earlier said that if a person with Covid-19 symptoms remains untraceable (after conducting an antigen test) it become a cause of concern. ICMR has also suggested that symptomatic individuals in antigen tests must go for RT PCR tests, which is known as the gold standard of COVID tests.
The Union Health Secretary has also asked states to keep the mortality rate below 1 percent.
Health Ministry statistics revealed that Karnataka accounts for 10 percent of the total active cases, followed by Andhra Pradesh 9 percent, Uttar Pradesh 7 percent, and Tamil Nadu 5 percent.
Ironically these five states also register maximum COVID deaths in the country. On average Maharastra register 409 deaths daily followers by Karnataka 121, Tamil Nadu 72, Andhra Pradesh 69, and Uttar Pradesh 73.
Till Wednesday, Maharastra has registered 292174 active cases with an increase of fresh 544 cases in the last 24 hours. The state has witnessed 30409 deaths to date with 515 new deaths in the last 24 hours.
Accordingly, Karnataka has registered 98555 active cases with an increase of 73 cases in the last 24 hours. The state has witnessed 7481 deaths with 97 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.
Andhra Pradesh registered 92,353 active cases and 5041 deaths to date. The state has witnessed 69 deaths in the last 24 hours. However, the state has not reported any new case in the last 24 hours. Uttar Pradesh registered 67335 active cases (48 new cases) and 4604 deaths and 113 deaths in the last 24 hours. Tamil Nadu has 46,806 active cases, 8502 deaths to date. In the last 24 hours, the state has recorded 68 deaths but no new active cases.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed in the Rajya Sabha that as on September 10, a total of 15,290 COVID treatment facilities with 13,14,171 dedicated isolation beds without Oxygen support have been created.
"A total of 231269 Oxygen supported isolation beds and 62694 ICU beds (including 32,241 ventilator beds) have also been created," he said while giving a status note on Public Health Response to Covid19 in India.
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