COVID-19: Centre asks WB, Assam, Bihar, Odisha to pull up socks

With a surge in COVID-19 cases in Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Odisha, Union health ministry has asked se states to make renewed efforts to suppress transmission of virus and keep case fatality rate below one per cent.

With se states imposing lockdowns anew, health ministry emphasised that restrictions should be utilised to focus on containment, surveillance and testing in containment and buffer zones as key strategy for early detection of cases and fatality manment.

In a letter to Principal Secretaries (Health) and Secretary (Health) of se states, Joint Secretary in Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal asked m to ensure that at least 80 per cent of new cases have ir close contacts traced and are in quarantine within 72 hours of case confirmation.

letter underlined that containment and buffer zones should be suitably delineated based on mapping of cases and contacts, and a list of NCC volunteers along with or workforce is available on COVID warriors' portal which can be optimally utilised in containment and surveillance effort.

"In terms of testing state should aim to achieve a minimum of 14 tests per one lakh (140 tests per million) per day, while ensuring a positivity rate of less than 10 per cent," letter to states read.

Centre has also decided to depute a multi-disciplinary team to Bihar to review and coordinate with state in managing pandemic re, according to an office memorandum issued by health ministry.

team, comprising Agarwal, Dr S K Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control and Dr Neeraj Nischal, Associate Professor, Medicine at AIIMS New Delhi, will undertake visit immediately and coordinate with state health authorities to review existing situation and provide necessary support and guidance.

According to letter to Principal Secretary (Health & Family Welfare), Bihar, cases in state are rising with almost 450-500 cases being reported daily and 80 per cent of total active cases in state were reported in last seven days.

Districts like Patna, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda, Begusarai and Munger are reporting higher number of cases while Saharsa, Gaya, Paschim Champaran, Jamui, Arwal, Saran and Khagaria are emerging hotspots.

overall testing is very low in state vis-a-vis national aver and an increasing trend in case positivity rate on weekly basis is also a cause of concern, letter said.

In letter to Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), West Bengal, Agarwal said state is reporting almost 1,600 cases daily and 93 per cent of total active cases in state were reported in last four days.

"Kolkata, Howrah, 24 rth Parganas and 24 South Parganas as well as emerging hotspots in Jhargram, Purulia, Nadia, Midnapur East, Hooghly and Nadia need immediate attention." Furr, Odisha is reporting an aver of more than 500 cases everyday since past four weeks, letter to state's Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) said.

"According to active case load, Odisha is tenth most-affected state in country with Ganjam reporting approximately 37 per cent of state's active caseload," letter said, adding, re is need to focus on emerging hotspots such as Nabarangpur, Sambalpur and Kendujhar.

" increase in weekly fatality trend with almost 29 pc of cases above 45 years, is also a cause of concern," letter said.

In letter to Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Assam, Agarwal said state is reporting approximately 600 cases everyday. About 80 pc of current active case load is reported in last 14 days, with Kamrup metro reporting more than 50 per cent of state's active caseload.

Nine districts including Nagaon, Goalpara, Karbi Anglong, Nalbari, Sivasagar are testing lower than India's aver. High case of positivity is ted in Dima Hasao and Kamrup Metro, letter highlighted.

To keep cases fatality rate less than one per cent, weekly case fatality needs to be monitored and state should conduct rapid audit of hospitals and create dashboards to monitor real time status of bed utilisation, letter sent to four states mentioned.

It also asked m to ensure adequate human resources, revamping ambulance system and helplines to ensure resolution of problems of patients experiencing symptoms or undergoing home isolation.

" Centre of Excellence for Clinical Manment should undertake hospital wise/facility-wise fatality analysis and guide facilities with high CFR through regular VC on appropriate clinical manment. Required support from 24x7 team set up by AIIMS Delhi for clinical manment consultation may also be taken in this context," letters said.

Necessarily testing all asymptomatic high-risk contacts and mild symptomatic as per ICMR protocol should be undertaken, it said.

states have also been asked to use forecasting tools made available by health ministry to ascertain number of COVID beds required and accordingly calculate oxygen requirement.

"A dal officer to keep a track of oxygen requirements and for relevant communication with centre is to be appointed," letter said.

"State should also focus on ensuring availability of n-COVID services such as immunisation, maternal and child health services including or emergency and critical care services," it stated.