New Delhi: In view of the surge in COVID numbers in some states, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday reviewed the current situation and directed officials to focus on surveillance, genomic sequencing and monitor hospitalisation. During his meeting with senior officials of the health ministry and key experts, Mandaviya stressed on the need to focus on districts reporting high case positivity and undertake adequate testing (with higher proportion of RTPCR) and effective COVID 19 surveillance to assess and control the spread of infection in a timely manner.
The Health Minister directed the officials to continue to focus on surveillance and on whole genome sequencing (WGS) to scan for any possible mutation. Mandaviya also directed monitoring hospitalisation due to Covid19 and SARI/ ILI cases. "There is also need to increase pace of vaccination including booster doses in districts reporting high cases. As there is adequate vaccine doses available, let there be no vaccine wastage while focusing on accelerating vaccination among the eligible and vulnerable groups," Mandaviya said.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry, meanwhile made a detailed presentation on the global scenario of the surge in COVID cases and the current status in the country. Top officials from the health ministry including chairman of the Covid19 task force Dr VK Paul, Principal scientific advisor to the government Dr Ajay K Sood, DBT secretary Dr Rajesh Gokhale, DG ICMR Dr Balram Bhargava, Ayush secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha among others were present in the meeting.
As many as seven states across India, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, have been witnessing a spike in cases. The active caseload was more than double in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh over the last one week. India reported 13,313 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours, with the active caseload currently at 83,990.
India registered 38 casualties in last 24 hours. Weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 2.81 percent and the daily positivity rate is reported to be 2.03 percent. As far as vaccination is concerned, India's cumulative vaccination coverage exceeds 196.62 crore as on Thursday.
