Cabinet Secretary chairs high-level meet with States/UTs to review COVID management

Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba conducted a high-level meeting with states and union territories via video conference on Saturday to review and discuss the COVID-19 management and response strategy. The event was attended by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr V K Paul. It was attended by the Chief Secretaries, Additional Chief Secretaries (Health), Principal Secretaries (Health), Municipal Commissioners, District Collectors, and other senior officials from the states and union territories, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Cabinet Secretary holds high-level meet with States/UTs 

The Cabinet Secretary congratulated the States/UTs on the historic achievement of more than 2.5 crore vaccination doses delivered yesterday and praised healthcare workers, Chief Medical Officers, District Magistrates, and State Health Secretaries for their efforts.

He hoped that when vaccine doses became more widely available, the rate of immunisation would be maintained. He, on the other hand, used the opportunity to remind the States that there is no tolerance for complacency. He emphasised the importance of firmly enforcing COVID Appropriate Behaviour (CAB).

He raised concern about different regions of the country reporting significant test positivity, citing precedents from other countries that witnessed numerous peaks of COVID-19. He recommended state health officials to conduct a granular analysis of their COVID-19 trajectory, ramp up their Health Infrastructure, store needed medicines, and boost Human Resources as soon as possible to meet any anticipated surge in cases.

The Union Health Secretary emphasised the rising threat of Serotype-II Dengue fever in 11 states, which is connected with more instances and consequences than other forms of the disease. He recommended that states take steps such as early case detection, operationalization of fever helplines, adequate stocking of testing kits, larvicides, and medicines, deployment of Rapid Response teams for prompt investigation and necessary Public Health Action such as Fever Survey, Contact Tracing, Vector Control, and alerting blood banks to maintain adequate stocks of blood and blood components.

States/UTs on public health response to COVID

States were also asked to conduct IEC campaigns on helplines, vector management methods, source reduction at home, and dengue symptoms. The Health Secretary informed the states/UTs that 70 districts in 15 states are cause for concern because 34 of these districts have positivity greater than 10% and 36 districts have positivity between 5% and 10%. In light of the upcoming festival season, states were ordered to take all necessary steps and to guarantee efficient enforcement in order to avoid huge gatherings and congested closed areas.

Existing guidelines for malls, local markets, and places of worship must be properly enforced. States were asked to conduct effective IEC to promote COVID Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) and COVID safe celebrations. They were also asked to actively monitor case trajectories in all districts on a daily basis in order to identify early warning signs and guarantee the application of limitations and adherence to CAB, according to the statement.

Chief Secretaries were advised to perform a district-level analysis and to deploy appropriate medical facilities and supplies to meet estimated needs as soon as possible. Furthermore, private sector capacities may be inventoried and deployed in response to new needs. 

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare further stated that in order to avoid a repeat outbreak, state authorities were asked to focus on many concerns, including

-ensuring COVID compliance. 

-appropriate behaviour and COVID observance

-safe celebrations, adopting extensive containment and active surveillance in high-case clusters, and not delaying the enforcement of limitations.

Additionally, increased testing while maintaining the RT-PCR ratio, prompt commissioning of PSA plants, oxygen cylinders, concentrators, and ventilators, and regular reviews for priority implementation of ECRP-II to ensure preparedness with enough headroom are all necessary. In addition, since only a few states have opened schools, the infection spread in children is being monitored. Breakthrough infections after vaccination are being monitored and emerging evidence is being analysed.

(with inputs from ANI)

Image: ANI/PTI