Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 30
As the Covid-19 surge continued with active cases touching 5,40,720 today after 56,211 new infections, the Centre on Tuesday asked the states to go in for large containment zones with strict perimeter control, effectively backing district-level lockdowns to break the chain of viral transmission.
In a letter to state chief secretaries, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan today said "unless checked now, the current Covid surge has the potential to overwhelm health systemshellip; any complacency at any level will come at a heavy cost."
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The letter indicated a shift from micro-containment strategy to large-containment zones with Bhushan noting, "Where there are clusters of cases, simply quarantining individuals or families will not help. In that case, large containment zones with clear boundaries and stringent controls must be implemented. There should be strict perimeter control of containment zones. Endeavour should be to contain as many as possible in a containment zone for 14 days so that the chain of transmission can be broken."
This is the first time since the March lockdown was lifted that the Health Ministry has advised large containment zones and district-level lockdowns and perimeter controls.
The advice came as active cases rose to 4.47 per cent of the total and the Member, Health, NITI Aayog, saying the situation was turning from "bad to worse".
"Many districts are seeing clusters of cases due to events and crowding. Some districts that saw a high number of cases in August-November are again seeing a high growth rate of cases. Additionally many new districts that saw limited prevalence earlier are worryingly showing a surge," Bhusban's letter said.
The lack of Covid-appropriate behaviour and laxity in public health effort could lead to sudden surges, the letter said, asking chief secretaries to ensure institutional quarantine of positive people, tracing of at least 30 close contacts of those infected and review of home isolation cases.
"There has been laxity in institutional quarantine. People are being asked to home isolate without proper review. That is not acceptable," Bhushan said, adding that Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh were of particular concern and had 62 per cent of all active cases.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/3dmp0Nv
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