New Delhi: The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhusan on Wednesday asked all Northeastern states to speed up testing and tracking of Covid cases, in a bid to contain the spread of infection. Bhushan sent a letter to all health secretaries of eight northeastern states asking them to implement strict restrictions where ever necessary.
The development took place a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a review meeting with the Chief Ministers of all Northeastern states. During the meeting, Modi has also expressed serious concern over the spike in Covid cases. Government statistics said that two districts in Assam, 3 in Tripura, 3 in Arunachal Pradesh, 3 in Sikkim, 4 in Mizoram, 5 in Nagaland, 7 in Meghalaya and 8 districts in Manipur have been reporting Covid positivity rate of more than 10 per cent.
According to the health ministry, the Covid19 positivity rate of more than 10 per cent is a matter of concern. Health Secretary Bhushan has also urged the state health secretaries to speed up the Covid vaccination drive. Meanwhile, talking to ETV Bharat Vincent Pala, Congress MP from Shillong (Meghalaya) accused the BJP supported State Government of lack of coordination between the public and private sector.
"There is also a wide differences between Government and its citizens. People are not aware about the initiatives being adopted by the state government to fight against Covid. And the situation is more pathetic in rural areas of the state," said Pala. He emphasised on the need for a massive awareness drive so that people can also be engaged in government's fight against the Covid19 pandemic.
"In the previous government there was proper coordination between state government and village heads, which is not visible under the present government," said Pala highlighting that village heads can also play a crucial role in government's fight against the pandemic. However, Queen Oja, a BJP MP from Guwahati said that the government at present are taking all necessary steps to contain the spread of Covid19.
"What we need at present is people's awareness and Covid appropriate behavior. We should also ensure that each and every adult person get the Covid19 vaccination," said Oja. It may be mentioned here that the BJP ruled Assam government has imposed curfew in high case load areas of the State.
Read: India witnessed exponential increase of SARS-CoV-2 cases from March: NTAGI
