Centre Warns Uttarakhand Govt Of Potential Upsurge In Coronavirus Cases At Kumbh Mela

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Om Prakash and highlighted the concerns raised by the high-level central team, which visited Uttarakhand on March 16 and 17 to review the medical and public health preparedness measures undertaken for the ongoing Kumbh Mela.

Kumbh Mela, Photo Courtesy: Getty Images (Image used for representative image)

In the wake of the alarming surge in Covid-19 cases across the country, the Centre has asked the Uttarakhand Government to take stringent measures to control the spread of the Coivd-19 virus during the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Om Prakash to highlighten the concerns raised by the high-level central team, which visited Uttarakhand on March 16 and 17 to review the medical and public health preparedness measures undertaken for the ongoing Kumbh Mela.

The Union Health Secretary in his letter observed that currently more than 12 states in India have shown a surge in Covid-19 cases during the past few weeks, adding the pilgrims expected to visit Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela could also be from these states.

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He added it has been noted there is a potential of an upsurge in cases in the local population after the auspicious Shahi Snan days during the Kumbh Mela.

Noting 10-20 pilgrims and 10-20 locals are being reported positive every day as per the central team’s report, the Health Secretary further said this positivity rate has the potential to rapidly turning to an upsurge in cases given the expected large footfall during the Kumbh Mela.

The Centre informed the state government that the daily testing numbers reported in Haridwar (i.e. 50,000 Rapid Antigen Tests and 5,000 RT-PCR tests) are not enough to effectively offset huge number of expected pilgrim footfall.

The state government has been advised that the share of RTP-CR tests being conducted at present needs to be significantly increased as per guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to ensure the pilgrims and local population is appropriately tested.

The Union Health Secretary has urged the Uttarakhand Government to take stock of the public health measures being undertaken by the state in consonance with the Health Ministry’s recommendations.

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This comes as the five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka and Gujarat account for 77.7 percent of the new Covid-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 27,126 followed by Punjab with 2,578 cases and Kerala reporting 2,078 new cases.