Amid an upsurge in COVID cases and positivity rate in 115 districts of nine States, the Centre on Wednesday urged the States and Union Territories to strictly monitor the home isolation cases so that these patients do not intermingle in the community. The Centre also stressed on spreading awareness regarding home-test kits through the rapid antigen test (RAT) for a timely identification of the disease.
The States were advised to conduct surveillance and report district-wise SARI (Severe Acute Respiratory Illness) and ILI (Influenza-like Illness) cases on a daily basis and also to send these for genome sequencing to the mapped INSACOG laboratories.
They were advised to undertake test indicated proportion of international arrivals with genome sequencing of all the positive cases and identify sentinel sites for the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network to send samples for whole genome sequencing, according to a statement issued by the health ministry.
These directions were issued by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan as he chaired a high-level meeting on Wednesday to review the Covid situation in nine states -- Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. Dr Vinod Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog was also present at the meeting.
These states are either reporting a surge in the number of fresh Covid cases or a rise in the positivity rate, the statement said.
The public health measures for surveillance, containment and management of COVID-19 were also reviewed, it stated.
While Bhushan underlined the critical Covid control and management strategies, Paul expressed concern over the surge in the number of cases in these states in the last one month. "We need to be mindful that Covid is not gone. Looking at the global scenario, we need to be at high alert. There is poor surveillance, poor testing and below-average vaccination in many states undergoing the present surge," Paul said.
He urged the states to improve the testing in areas reporting a high positivity rate, increase surveillance in accordance with the revised surveillance strategy and speed up vaccination, the statement said.
All districts reporting a high positivity rate need to undertake adequate testing with a higher proportion of RTPCR tests. Any laxity will result in deterioration of the situation in these districts, Bhushan said adding there is a need to effectively and strictly monitor the home-isolation cases so that these patients do not intermingle in their neighbourhoods, community, village, mohalla, ward etc. and spread the infection.
The states were also urged to send positive samples from large clusters and outbreaks in the community and unusual events for whole genome sequencing.
They were asked to create added awareness regarding reporting of those who opt for home test kits through the RAT for a timely identification of those cases that need clinical management. All such positive patients to be advised for home isolation to prevent the infection spread in the community, the statement said.
The states were also urged to accelerate the free Covid vaccination for the first, second and precaution doses.