Health Min asks 7 states to focus on effective management of Covid cases to reduce deaths

INDIA’S DECENTRALISED BUT UNIFIED MECHANISM WAS BEHIND COVID-19 UNIQUE RESPONSE STRATEGY: VARDHAN

NEW DELHI: Union minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday advised seven states, including Maharashtra and Uttarakhand, to focus on enhanced testing, especially in districts with higher COVID-19 positivity and places of large gatherings like markets and workplaces.

Vardhan, who interacted with chief ministers, state health ministers, principal secretaries and additional chief secretaries of Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura Meghalaya and Goa through video conferencing and urged them to focus on effective clinical management of COVID-19 cases to reduce deaths in the first 24, 48 or 72 hours.

Highlighting the state-specific areas of concern that would require focussed attention, he noted that although the active cases have come down in Maharashtra, it continues to have a large active COVID-19 caseload with a high fatality rate of 2.6 per cent, which increases to 3.5 per cent in and around Mumbai, the Union Health Ministry said in a statement.

The case fatality rate in Uttarakhand is higher than the national average at 1.64 per cent.

Also, active cases are on the rise in the recent days in Manipur. Higher positivity in the state is indicative of hidden transmission, Vardhan said.

Forty per cent of the total deaths were recorded in just the last one month in Goa, which is a cause of concern, he underlined.

With 70 per cent of cases concentrated in Aizawl, Mizoram is seeing a further rise in active cases; Tripura and Meghalaya are witnessing higher deaths in the active age groups of 45-60 years, which are preventable, the Union health minister highlighted.