New Delhi: The Centre has asked states and union territories to review, amend or do away with additional COVID-19 restrictions after considering the trend of new cases and positivity rate in their regions, stating sustained downward trend in the nationwide case trajectory. In a letter to sent to chief secretaries and chief administrators of all states and UTs on Wednesday, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the coronavirus pandemic in India is showing a sustained declining trend since January 21.
The average daily cases during last week were 50,476, and 27,409 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. The daily case positivity rate declined to 3.63 per cent on Wednesday. In earlier months, in view of the high case trajectory, certain states had imposed additional restrictions at their borders and at airports, he said.
While effectively managing the public health challenge of COVID-19, it is equally important that movement of people and economic activities should not be hampered by additional restrictions imposed at state-level points of entries, Bhushan said in the letter. "Presently, as the case trajectory across the nation is showing a sustained downward trend, it will be useful if states/UTs review and amend/do away with the additional restrictions so imposed after considering the trend of new cases, active cases and positivity within the state and UT," he said.