7 states & their 11 municipal areas account for 70% of India's Covid cases: MoHFW

In view of the Coronavirus crisis, eleven municipal areas from seven states across the country have accounted for 70 percent of the COVID-19 case load, said the Union Health Ministry on Saturday. According to the Ministry, the states include Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh West Bengal, and Rajasthan.

Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan held a high-level meeting through video conferencing with principal health secretaries and municipal commissioners along with other officials from the 11 municipal areas. During the meeting, she urged them to focus on prevention through active screening of high risk and vulnerable populations, as well as on effective clinical management of the people who have been admitted.

She also briefed the states about the factors to be considered while mapping the containment and buffer zones. Further, the health secretary also highlighted the trend in case of trajectory with respect to total confirmed cases, case fatality rate, doubling time, tests per million, and confirmation percentage. As per the ministry, the recovery rate is up to 41.39 percent till now. 

Read: 'Approx. 40% COVID-19 patients have recovered; 2.94% on oxygen support': Health Ministry

States to categorize zones 

Last week, the Health Ministry allowed the states to categorize their own COVID-19 districts into the red, orange, and green zones. Later, the Ministry also wrote to the states on the parameters while doing the same. In the letter, the Health Ministry highlighted that the states must consider total active cases, active cases per lakh, doubling rate, case fatality, testing ratio, and sample positivity while categorizing the zones. It also reiterated that states must ensure that containment zones must be delineated based on mapping of cases, geographical dispersion od cases, area perimeter, perimeter control enforceability.

Read: Health Ministry writes to states on parameters while categorising COVID-19 zones

India extends lockdown

Last Sunday, the Centre announced the extension of India's lockdown till May 31 due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a Rs 20 lakh crore economic package - including the previous monetary package and the liquidity measures announced by RBI till date, to kickstart Indian economy's growth. 

According to the latest update from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the number of total coronavirus cases in the country has climbed to 1,318,868 including 73,560 active cases. While 3,867 deaths have been reported overall, around 54,440 people have been cured/discharged, and one person has been migrated. 

Read: Manipur CM makes quarantine mandatory for all returnees, says violators will be jailed

Read: Health Ministry issues revised guidelines for home isolation of very mild Covid-19 cases

(With PTI Inputs)