Govt asks 5 states including Maharashtra to monitor emerging clusters as COVID-19 cases rise

Representative image (REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui)

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on June 3 asked five states witnessing a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases to closely monitor emerging clusters.

Bhushan wrote to the state governments of Kerala, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, instructing them to monitor emerging clusters, maintain adequate number of tests, and send samples from infected individuals for genome sequencing.

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Additionally, Bhushan has also asked the states to keep a vigil on patients with influenza-like illnesses and severe acute respiratory syndrome to detect early signs of the spread of the coronavirus infection.

In comparison to 15,708 COVID-19 cases noted across India in the week ending May 27, the number has increased to 21,055 this week, Bhushan said in his letter to the state health secretaries. The weekly test positivity had also risen from 0.52 to 0.73 percent within one week, he added.

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As per the letter, 11 districts in Kerala, two districts in Tamil Nadu, one district in Karnataka and six districts in Maharashtra have reported an uptick in new cases and COVID-19 test positivity rate over the last few days.

"There are few states which are reporting a higher contribution to India's cases indicating the possibility of a localised spread of the infection," said the letter. "There is, therefore, a need to follow a risk assessment-based approach on the public health responses without losing the gains made so far in the fight against the pandemic."

In India, a total of 4,041 new cases were recorded in a span of 24 hours while the death toll climbed to 5,24,651 with 10 fresh fatalities, according to government data at 8 am. This figure is the highest in 84 days, while the number of active cases across the country rose on the 11th day in a row.

Officials in the Union health ministry, however, maintained that there is no reason to panic yet as there is no change in the hospitalisation pattern and most infections are only mildly symptomatic.

The consolidated data by the Union government shows that even though 24 states and Union Territories on Friday recorded the rise in Covid-19 cases, the highest daily rise was from Kerala and Maharashtra. Kerala also has the highest load of Covid-19 cases, followed by Maharashtra.

Notably, since Mumbai is currently accounting for the majority of Maharashtra’s daily coronavirus cases, as a precautionary measure, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials have asked all hospitals and COVID centres in Mumbai to be ready to combat any further spread of the virus in the city.

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