Concerned at the rising cases of Covid-19 again in some States in the backdrop of the emergence of new variant of coronavirus, XE, and the threat of arrival of a fourth wave, the Centre has directed Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Mizoram to take necessary actions to curb the spread of the infection.
Meanwhile, under the direction of the Supreme Court, the Centre has rushed teams to Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh to carry out random scrutiny of discrepancies in the Covid-19 death toll and corresponding ex-gratia claims made by them.
Amid reports of new variant spreading in many countries, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan asked the authorities in Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Mizoram to maintain a strict watch and take pre-emptive action if required owing to the rise in the number of cases last week.
Bhushan is also likely to hold a meeting with the health secretaries and health officials of all States/UTs regarding Covid-19 precaution dose administration on Saturday.
Regarding the probe into discrepancies in the Covid-19 death toll and corresponding ex-gratia claims made by various States, a senior Union Health Ministry official said this is in compliance with a Supreme Court order.
The Central teams have been rushed to Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh for random scrutiny of 5 per cent claims filed for Covid-19 ex-gratia compensation in these States.” Submitting false ex-gratia claims is liable to be punished
Last month, a bench of justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna has observed that there was a mismatch between the number of deaths reported by States and the ex-gratia claims made by them.
The court had, on the basis of a report submitted by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, cited that Gujarat had made 10,22,30 claims for ex-gratia, against over 10,000 Covid-19 deaths. Maharashtra had filed 2.13 lakh claims against 1.42 lakh deaths. Families of people, who died due to Covid-19 are entitled to receive an ex gratia of Rs 50,000.
In a related development, Bhushan wrote to Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Mizoram over the increase in Covid-19 cases in the respective States during the last week and asked them to maintain a strict watch and take pre-emptive action if required.
India saw a single-day rise of 1,109 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 4,30,33,067, while the active cases have further declined to 11,492 , according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.
The death toll has climbed to 5,21,573 with 43 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.