Monitor High-risk Population, Visit Houses in Containment Zones, Centre Asks 9 States to Buckle up

The number of cases in Jharkhand, Odisha, for example, is not alarming. But the short span of time in which the states reported these numbers is alarming.

New Delhi: The Centre has identified nine states which are now driving the present spurt of the active caseload of COVID-19 in the country. In a meeting on Friday, the Union cabinet secretary has asked the chief secretaries and the health secretaries of these nine states to ramp up their anti-COVID measures.

The states are

1. Andhra Pradesh (34,272)
2. Bihar (10.994)
3. Telangana (11,052)
4. Odisha (6,592)
5. West Bengal (18,846)
6. Assam (8,022)
7. Karnataka (49,937)
8. Jharkhand (3,734)
9. Uttar Pradesh (21,012)

The number of cases in Jharkhand, Odisha, for example, is not alarming. But the short span of time in which the states reported these numbers is alarming.

Though Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu are still the top three states contributing to the COVID cases, according to experts, these states have brought the situation under control.

Here is what the Centre now advises:

1. Regular review of containment zones. Containment zones should not be static. Cases are being reported from outside the containment zones which implies that the concentration of the cases might have been shifting while the administration is focussing on the wrong containment zones.

2. House-to-house active case search in containment zones: When a case is reported from an area, that area is transformed into a containment zone. But what needs to be done is to check every house in that area instead of just tracing the infected person’s contacts.

3. The fatality rate should be kept low.

4. Mapping of the high-risk population should be done.

5. Elderly people and people with co-morbidities should be monitored.