Centre: Enforce Covid appropriate behaviour

| | New Delhi
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Centre: Enforce Covid appropriate behaviour

Sunday, 28 February 2021 | PNS | New Delhi

Centre: Enforce Covid  appropriate behaviour

The Centre on Saturday advised States and UTs — Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Telangana and Jammu & Kashmir — to enforce Covid-appropriate behaviour by dealing firmly with violations and ensure effective surveillance in case of potential super spreading events so as not to let the situation go out of hand.

These States and UTs have been reporting a high Covid-19 active caseload or an increasing trend in new cases in the last week, noted Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba while chairing a high-level review meeting with Chief Secretaries of States/UTs.

“They were advised not to lower their guard, enforce Covid appropriate behaviour and deal firmly with violations. It was strongly underlined that they need to follow effective surveillance strategies in respect of potential super spreading events,” the Union Health Ministry said in a statement.

The need for effective testing, comprehensive tracking, prompt isolation of positive cases, and quick quarantine of close contacts were also strongly emphasised.

During the review meeting, States were advised to undertake vaccination on priority in districts reporting higher cases and monitor strains and clustering of cases for early hotspot identification and control.

They have also been asked to improve the overall testing in districts reporting a reduction in testing, and increase RT- PCR tests in districts having high antigen testing.

The States and UT were directed to focus on surveillance and stringent containment in selected districts reporting reduced tests/high positivity and increased cases.

They have also been advised to carry clinical management in districts reporting higher deaths and promote Covid-appropriate behaviour to ensure effective citizen communication to not let complacency set in, especially in light of the vaccination drive entering the next phase.

Maharashtra reported the highest daily new cases at 8,333, followed by Kerala with 3,671 while Punjab reported 622 new cases in the last 24 hours. In the last two weeks, Maharashtra has shown the highest rise in active cases from 34,449 on February 14 to 68,810 currently, the Ministry said.

They informed about the enforcement of Covid appropriate behaviour by levying heavy fines and challans, reviewing the surveillance and containment activities closely with the district collectors, and other steps being taken in line with the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

India’s total Covid-19 active caseload is 1,59,590 which is 1.44 per cent of the total infections.

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