Health Teams Rushed to Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, India Continue to Register Upward Swing in Corona Cases
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 26: The Health Ministry on Friday rushed high-level multidisciplinary teams to Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh to deal with an alarming spike in coronavirus cases at both places.
This was even as five states — Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat — had registered a sharp rise in daily COVID-19 cases as India recorded 59,118 new infections, the highest single-day rise so far this year, the union health ministry said.
After touching its lowest mark in mid-February, India’s active COVID-19 caseload is on a steady rise and has breached the 4-lakh mark again after around three-and-half months.
The ministry said the teams – consisting of senior doctors from the NCDC (National Centre for Disease Control), AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) and Delhi government hospitals – would analyse available data and recommend control and containment measures in Chandigarh and Chhattisgarh.
“The deployed teams shall visit most affected districts/hotspots… to take stock of on-ground implementation of public health interventions. They will share key findings, recommendations and remedial measures to be taken up with the chief secretary/chief administrator,” the ministry said.
The reports of these teams will be shared with the states for follow-up action, and compliance with this follow-up would be monitored, the ministry added in its statement.
Chandigarh reported 226 new Covid cases on Thursday. The city, which has reported over 25,000 cases in total, detected 249 new infections on Wednesday – which was a single-day high.
Chhattisgarh logged 2,419 new cases on Thursday – the most in 24 hours in nearly four months. On Wednesday 2,106 cases were detected.
The centre had sent similar special teams to Maharashtra and Punjab earlier this month to contain the spike.
Maharashtra reported 35,952 cases on Thursday and is the worst-affected state. It has an active caseload of over 2.64 lakh cases. Punjab reported 2,661 cases and has over 21,000 active cases.
Across India the number of new Covid cases reported per day has been increasing steadily.
Concern over a possible second wave of infections has been fueled by the discovery of a “double mutated strain” of the virus in addition to other mutated versions.
The government has said it was too early to confirm if the spike was because of the mutated strains. Instead, it has flagged a growing laxity in adhering to Covid protocols as a reason for the increase.
The spike in cases also comes ahead of Assembly elections in four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry. West Bengal and Assam kick off this round of elections on Saturday.
While many states have imposed fresh restrictions and had banned festivals like Holi in view of the re-surge of the pandemic, Maharashtra will impose a night curfew from the night of 28th March as the Covid cases are showing a steady rise in the state. The Disaster management and rehabilitation department will be issuing a separate order in this regard, the chief minister’s office said. Maharashtra alone contributes to almost 62 per cent of the cases in India.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday asked states and Union Territories to take necessary steps to regulate crowds ahead of festivals.
Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the recent surge in the country’s coronavirus cases is being closely monitored and strict enforcement of COVID protocols will be implemented to curb the pandemic. Earlier in the day, he had said the government is planning to more population under the vaccination drive. Everyone above 45 years was made eligible for vaccination yesterday.
Official data shows prominent second waves of infection in six states — Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat.
A new double mutant variant of coronavirus has been identified in India, according to the Ministry of Health. A total of 206 cases of the double mutant variant (E484Q + L452R) have been detected in Maharashtra, the data shows. However, the Centre has said there was no direct link of the new variant detected with the ongoing surge in the state.
Meanwhile, the Madras High Court on Friday directed the EC authorities to instruct their subordinates to strictly enforce the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) prescribed by the Health department, in view of the recent spurt in covid-19 cases in poll-bound Tamil Nadu.
The Election Commission should ensure that the norm of mandatory distance is maintained and masks strictly used while canvassing and polling, it said.
