New Delhi (NVI): The Centre has advised five states and Union Territories including Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab, that are witnessing a spike in daily new coronavirus cases, to improve overall testing numbers by focusing on increasing the proportion of RT-PCR tests.
Other states that have witnessed a spike in cases are Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and J&K.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in a statement today said that five States/UTs have weekly positivity rate more than the national average. “The national average is 1.79%. Maharashtra has highest weekly positivity rate with 8.10%,” the Ministry said in a statement.
In the last four weeks in Kerala, the average weekly cases have fluctuated between a high of 42,000 to a low of 34,800. Similarly, in the last four weeks, the weekly positivity in Kerala has ranged from 13.9% to 8.9%. In Kerala, the district of Alappuzha is a cause of special concern where the weekly Positivity Rate has increased to 10.7% and weekly cases have increased to 2,833, the Health Ministry said.
In Maharashtra, in the last four weeks, the weekly cases have shown a rising trend and have increased from 18,200 to 21,300; while the weekly positivity has also increased from 4.7% to 8%. The areas of concern are the Mumbai Suburban areas where the weekly cases have risen by 19%. In Nagpur, Amravati, Nashik, Akola and Yavatmal the weekly cases have increased by 33%, 47%, 23%, 55% and 48%, respectively.
Punjab is rapidly assuming critical dimension in respect of the spread of COVID19 infection. In the State, in the last four weeks, the weekly positivity rate has increased from 1.4% to 1.6%, while the weekly cases in the last four weeks have seen a rise from 1300 to 1682. In one district of SBS Nagar alone, the weekly positivity rate has become 4.9% from 3.5% and the weekly cases have more than doubled from 165 to 364.
“5 States/UTs have weekly Positivity Rate more than the National Average. The National average is 1.79%. Maharashtra has highest weekly positivity rate with 8.10%,” it said.
The Government has advised all these States to work on five major areas:
* Improve the overall testing numbers by focusing on increasing the proportion of RT-PCR tests.
* All negative Rapid Antigen Test results to be mandatorily followed by RT-PCR test and no such negative persons are to be missed.
* Refocus on strict and comprehensive surveillance as well as stringent containment in selected districts.
* Regular monitoring of the mutant strains through testing followed by Genome Sequencing, as well as monitoring of the emerging cluster of cases.
* Focusing on clinical management in districts reporting higher deaths.
India has been witnessing a rise in the active caseload over the past few days. India’s total active caseload is pegged at 1,45,634 today. It now consists of 1.32% of India’s total positive cases, the Health Ministry said.
More than 74% of the active cases of the country are in Kerala and Maharashtra. Of late, it is seen that there has been a spike in the daily cases in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh also. Punjab and J&K too are witnessing a surge in daily new cases, as per the Ministry.
-ARK
