Ensure Adequate Testing, Ramp Up Vaccination, Monitor Hospitalisation: Govt To Officials Amid Covid Surge

Mandaviya directed officials to continue to focus on surveillance and whole genome sequencing to identify any possible mutations.

In view of the ongoing surge in daily Covid-19 caseload in various states of the country, Union Health Minister Mansukh Madaviya on Thursday chaired a meeting with key experts and officials and directed them to keep extra focus on districts reporting high positivity rate and undertake adequate testing (with higher proportion of RT-PCR). The minister also stressed on the need to implement effective surveillance to assess and control the spread of the infection in a timely manner. 

Additionally, Mandaviya directed officials to continue to focus on surveillance and whole genome sequencing to identify any possible mutations. According to a statement by Home Ministry, the concerned officials were asked to continue focusing on surveillance and on whole genome sequencing (WGS) to scan for any possible mutation.

In districts reporting high cases, the officials were even asked to monitor hospitalisation rate due to Covid-19 and increase the pace of vaccination, including booster doses.

"As there is adequate vaccine doses available, let there be no vaccine wastage while focusing on accelerating vaccination among the eligible and vulnerable groups," the Health Minister said. 

As per daily Covid-19 bulletin shared by Union Health Ministry, as many as 12 states and Union Territories (UTs) have been recording an increase in weekly cases and positivity since June 10. These states and UTs are - Maharashtra, Kerala, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Gujarat, Goa and Punjab.

51 districts from states such as Kerala, Maharashtra, Assam, Mizoram are reporting a weekly Covid positivity rate of over 10 per cent while in 53 districts from states including Rajasthan and Delhi are recording weekly positivity is between 5 and 10 per cent.

During the meeting, Health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal presented a detailed presentation on the global scenario of surge in cases and status of Coronavirus in the country. In the presentation, points such as trends, active cases, positivity rate, deaths, testing and vaccination status were highlighted.