SHILLONG, July 31: A high-level meeting chaired by Union Health Secretary, Rajesh Bhushan, was held on Saturday to review the surge in COVID-19 cases in 10 states that include Meghalaya, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Assam, Mizoram, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur.
The states were asked to follow strict restrictions while ensure that all non-essential travel and large gatherings of crowds are avoided.
Highlighting the fact that 46 districts are showing more than 10 per cent positivity, they were also directed to ramp up testing along with vaccination in the 60+ and 45-60 age groups as evidence shows near 80 per cent of the mortality is from these vulnerable age groups.
During the review meeting, states were advised to undertake intensive containment and active surveillance in clusters reporting higher cases, define containment zones based on mapping of cases and contacts traced, undertake regular reviews and follow up for implementation of ECRP-II with a focus on augmentation of existing health infrastructure, particularly in rural areas and pediatric cases and report death count as per ICMR guidelines. States have been advised to conduct their own state level sero-surveys for district-wise disease prevalence data.
Fresh cases, deaths continue to rise in state
Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases continued to surge in Meghalaya with 686 new cases and 12 fatalities reported on Saturday.
Out of new cases, East Khasi Hills reported 219 cases, West Khasi Hills reported 187 cases, West Garo Hills reported 83 cases, Ri Bhoi reported 50 cases, West Jaintia Hills reported 59 cases, East Jaintia Hills reported 20 cases, South West Khasi Hills reported 31 cases, South West Garo Hills reported 9 cases, South Garo Hills reported 12 cases, North Garo Hills reported seven cases and East Garo Hills reported six cases. As far as recovery is concerned, 499 people recovered on Saturday.
The number of active cases in the state is now inching towards 6,000-mark with 5,966 active cases on Saturday while the death toll has reached 1,085.
Total confirmed cases in the state stands at 65,000 out of which 57,949 have recovered.
