New Delhi (NVI): The Central Government has rushed high-level multi-disciplinary public health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab in view of the increase in a number of daily new COVID-19 cases being consistently reported by these states.
“They are being deployed to assist the State Health Departments in COVID-19 surveillance, control, and containment measures,” a statement issued by the Health Ministry stated.
The move comes a day after Maharashtra reported over 10,000 cases of coronavirus disease in a day, the highest single-day rise since October 17 last year.
Meanwhile, Punjab reported over 1,000 cases on Thursday, for the first time in five months. The daily tally dropped to 818 on Friday. The situation, however, remains worrisome as the state’s infection tally has climbed to 1,86,189 and is among the eight states in the country where the virus is re-spreading.
The central teams will visit the hotspot areas in the two states and ascertain the reasons for the surge.
Furthermore, they will brief the chief secretary/secretary (home) on their observations and remedial measures to be undertaken by the state health authorities.
Explaining the significance and role of the teams, the health ministry said, “These teams interact with the State/UT authorities and get a first-hand understanding of the challenges and issues being faced by them so as to strengthen their ongoing activities and remove bottlenecks.”
According to the ministry, Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are among the states that continue to report a spike in daily new cases.
Following the daily spike, which reached 18,327 today, India’s active caseload has reached 180,304, which accounts for 1.61% of the positive cases so far.
-CHK
