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UP Makes COVID Tests Mandatory For International Passengers: The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday made COVID tests mandatory for all passengers arriving from abroad as cases are once again on the rise in the state. The government has also given instructions to perform genome sequencing on the samples which tested positive for the virus. The move comes at a time when India recorded 6,155 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours. Covid cases have been rising steadily in the country with the daily positivity rate currently standing at 5.63 per cent.
As of Saturday, the overall active cases stand at 31,194 with the daily positivity rate at 5.63 per cent, the Union Health Ministry said. With 3,253 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the overall count stood at 4,41,89,111, the health bulletin added.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday chaired a review meeting with health ministers of all states and union territories via video conferencing. At the meeting, Mandaviya reviewed the preparation across the states ahead of the two-day nationwide COVID mock drills on April 10 and April 11.
He also asked the states to identify emerging hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) cases and to send sufficient samples for testing of COVID-19 and Influenza; and ramping up whole genome sequencing of positive samples.
COVID mock drill is basically a trial run conducted to check how the health department and staff manage an emergency using the available resources and hospital protocols to avert any chaotic situation. Mock drills are carried out to provide a real-time experience of screening and managing in case of a pandemic situation.
Several aspects of inspection including infrastructure, health and logistics, and availability of oxygen in hospitals are carried out during COVID mock drills.
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