New Delhi: The Union health ministry on Saturday wrote to Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha and Mizoram to take necessary steps under the ‘Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate-Covid Appropriate Behaviour’ strategy to control the spread of COVID-19 and reduce fatality.
The move comes in view of rising cases of the infection, weekly positivity rates and weekly deaths in some districts.
Referring to a letter sent to all states/UTs on November 27 in the context of the new Omicron variant, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Saturday said all states have been advised to undertake enhanced surveillance of international travellers, monitor emerging hotspots, prompt contact tracing of positive people, besides sending all positive samples for genome sequencing, early identification of cases and review of health infrastructure preparedness, and most importantly to focus on IEC and community sensitisation.
In a letter addressed to the principal secretary (Health), he pointed out that Karnataka has reported 8,073 new cases in the month ending December 03 (30 days).
The secretary further said Kerala has reported 1,71,521 new cases in the month ending December 03, with a contribution of 55.8 percent to the country’s new cases from over the past month.
As for Jammu and Kashmir, Bhushan said, it has reported 4,806 new cases in the month ending December 03, with a few districts such as Kathua, Jammu, Ganderbal and Baramulla showing an increase in the previous week.
Tamil Nadu has reported 23,764 new cases during the same period. Vellore, Thiruvallur and Chennai showed an increase in weekly new cases in the past week.
As far as Odisha is concerned, Bhushan pointed out that the state has reported 7,445 new cases during the same period, with a contribution of 2.5 per cent to India’s new cases from over the past month.
“In this context, required necessary steps to control the spread of infection and reduce fatality need to be taken as per the ongoing strategy of Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate-Covid Appropriate Behaviour to keep the situation under control,” he underlined.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will continue to provide requisite support to states/UTs in the ongoing and collective efforts against COVID-19, he added.
