New Delhi: Asserting that increase in the new Covid19 cases due to festivities is a grave concern, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday reviewed the status of COVID in West Bengal, Kerala and Delhi. These states and UTs which witnessed a sudden increase in Covid cases have been asked to strictly follow the ‘test-track-treat’ strategy.
Officials from the Delhi government have said that the rising number of Covid cases are due to social gatherings during the festivals, the deteriorating air quality, increasing incidences of respiratory disorders, and clusters of positive cases at workplaces.
Delhi has 29,378 active cases as of Thursday with a Fatality Rate of 1.76 per cent and a positivity rate of 7.9 per cent. 5,673 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours. There has been a nearly 46 per cent increase in the new cases over the past four weeks, and the positivity rate over the past four weeks has escalated by nearly nine per cent.
Delhi government has been advised to aggressively ramp up testing, increase RT-PCR tests, focus on contact tracing and effectively enforce isolation of the traced contacts within the first 72 hours. It was advised to focus on containment zones, and strict perimeter control to be implemented as per MHA guidelines. The health authorities were advised to give additional thrust to IEC practices and proactively promote wearing of masks and other COVID appropriate behaviours.
West Bengal has 37,111 active cases as on date. The Case Fatality Rate of the State stands at 1.84 per cent and the positivity rate is 8.3 percent. The State has registered 3,924 new cases in the last 24 hours. The average daily cases have recorded a 23 per cent increase over the last four weeks.
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There is one per cent increase in the positivity rate over the last four weeks. Darjeeling, Nadia, Medinipur West, Jalpaiguri, Hooghly are the top districts showing an increasing trend in cases. Whereas, Murshidabad, Nadia, Coochbehar, Kolkata and Darjeeling have registered an increase in the weekly deaths last week. The tests per million population (TPM) stand at 41,261 whereas the national TPM is 77,220.
West Bengal health authorities were advised not to compromise on testing and keep the level of daily tests at a higher level with a greater proportion of RT-PCR tests. It was advised to ensure a proper standard of care and early identification as well as early hospitalisation of cases. It was also suggested to regularly monitor the symptom development and hospitalization trend amongst the home isolated patients. The state was advised to focus on rapid contact tracing, and quick isolation of the traced contacts to be effectively enforced.
The cases in Kerala are also showing a rising trend. Total active cases are 93,369 as on date. The average daily cases have recorded 11 per cent increase over the last four weeks. The number of new cases in the last 14 days is 98,778.
In the last 24 hours, Kerala has registered the maximum number of new cases with 8,790 cases. Thrissur, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Malappuram are the top districts showing an increasing trend in COVID cases. The State has demonstrated better results in terms of COVID fatality. The fatality rate of State stands at 0.34 per cent, although there has been an increase in the weekly deaths in Thrissur (133 per cent), Kollam (75 per cent), Alappuzha (31 per cent), Ernakulam (30 per cent), and Kannur (15 per cent).
Covid19 tests per million of the population are 66,755 and the positivity rate is at a significantly high level of 16.5 per cent. The positivity rate has registered a 41 per cent increase over the last four weeks.
Thursday’s meeting that was held through video conferencing was attended by Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, and Dr Balram Bhargava, DG, ICMR. Health Secretaries from the States and UT, NHM MD, DGHS and other senior health officials also participated.
