New Delhi: In the wake of spike in daily new cases in some States, the Centre has written to those States asking them to increase the proportion of RT-PCR tests and regularly monitor mutant strains.
In a letter to the states, the Health Ministry has also stressed that all negative rapid antigen test results should be mandatorily followed by RT-PCR test.
The Centre has also asked the States to refocus on strict and comprehensive surveillance as well as stringent containment in selected districts and regular monitoring of the mutant strains through testing followed by Genome Sequencing, as well as monitoring of the emerging cluster of cases.
The States have also been urged to focus on clinical management in districts reporting higher deaths.
More than 74% of the Active Cases of the country are in Kerala and Maharashtra. Of late it is seen that there has been a spike in the daily cases in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh also. Punjab and J&K too are witnessing a surge in daily new cases.
In the last four weeks in Kerala, the average weekly cases have fluctuated between a high of 42,000 to a low of 34,800. Similarly, in the last four weeks, the weekly positivity in Kerala has ranged from 13.9% to 8.9%. In Kerala, the district of Alappuzha is a cause of special concern where the weekly Positivity Rate has increased to 10.7% and weekly cases have increased to 2,833.
In Maharashtra, in the last four weeks, the weekly cases have shown a rising trend and have increased from 18,200 to 21,300; while the weekly positivity has also increased from 4.7% to 8%. The areas of concern are the Mumbai Suburban areas where the weekly cases have risen by 19%. In Nagpur, Amravati, Nashik, Akola and Yavatmal the weekly cases have increased by 33%, 47%, 23%, 55% and 48%, respectively.
Punjab is rapidly assuming critical dimension in respect of the spread of COVID19 infection. In the State, in the last four weeks, the weekly positivity rate has increased from 1.4% to 1.6%, while the weekly cases in the last four weeks have seen a rise from 1300 to 1682. In one district of SBS Nagar alone, the weekly positivity rate has become 4.9% from 3.5% and the weekly cases have more than doubled from 165 to 364.
5 States/UTs have weekly Positivity Rate more than the National Average. The National average is 1.79%. Maharashtra has highest weekly positivity rate with 8.10%.