Govt identifies 1200 COVID-19 hotspots across India

The Union Health Ministry with the help of the Indian Council of Medical Research said that it has identified more than 1200 COVID-19 hotspots across India and Delhi’s Nizamuddin tops the list. A place with a single COVID 19 positive case becomes a hotspot, however, the strategy keeps changing to deal with such hotspots depending on the number of cases.

New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday said that it has identified more than 1200 COVID-19 hotspots across India and Delhi’s Nizamuddin tops the list.

The hotpots are spread into 27 States and Union Territories. “A place with a single COVID 19 positive case becomes a hotspot for us. However, the strategy keeps changing to deal with such hotspots depending on the number of cases,” said Luv Aggrawal, joint secretary in the ministry of health and family welfare.

The Health Ministry with the help of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has of late concentrated on identifying such hotspots for taking actions with specific strategies.

Another official from the Health Ministry said that Delhi’s Nizamuddin area is at the top of such hotspot following the fact that hundreds of Tabhlig Jamaat (TJ) workers had gathered at the Markaz also known as Banglewali Mosque. “The issue has become more serious as many of the TJ workers toured in different places of the country,” he said.

Some of the states having a major number of hotspots include Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat among others.

Aggrawal, however, said that hotspots are an emerging concept which changes based on inputs and data of virus spread.

“The government is ensuring that these hot spots are effectively monitored so that the virus does not spread,” said Aggrawal and added that “even an area with a single case can become a hotspot if the government feels that there is the possibility of a wider spread in that area.”

The central government is continuously identifying emerging “hotspots” of COVID-19 infection and employing a rigorous cluster containment strategy.

“As we are dealing with a communicable disease, the government feels that places with suspected COVID 19 cases could become hotspots,” said Aggrawal.

Aggrawal said that during the last 24-hours India has registered its highest COVID-19 positive cases with 227 and 3 deaths.

“The total Covid19 active cases in India is 1251…three more deaths have reported from Gujarat, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh,” said Aggrawal. He said that the government is constantly working on contact tracing of positive cases.

Meanwhile, Puniya Salila Srivastava from the Union Home Ministry has said that 21064 relief camps have been set up by different state government across India for the migrant labourers.

“In those relief camps, more than 66251 people have taken shelter. Arrangement for food have also been made by the state government for the migrant workers and poor people,” said Srivastava.