Health Ministry comes up with 'Cluster Containment Strategy' for COVID-19 hotspots

As India continues its battles against Coronavirus, the health ministry on Tuesday apprised about their preparedness stating that they have a cluster containment strategy for the hotspots in the country. In his daily press briefing in New Delhi, the ministry's joint secretary Lav Aggarwal remained vague on numerical requirements for a place to be identified as a Coronavirus hotspot; maintaining that they treat even a single case from a single location as a potential hotspot.

Aggarwal cited the example of the first few cases detected in India from the state of Kerala, saying that authorities acted immediately and followed the containment protocol. For the government, Aggarwal said, cases as and when reported in India will be treated as a hotspot.

"Wherever a COVID case is found, it is a hotspot for us, where we initiate action according to our cluster containment strategy, however, while we have got success in some areas, the situation is very dynamic, required action being taken based on evolving situation," he said.

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Aggarwal further apprised about the surge in cases stating that 227 new cases and 3 new deaths reported have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking total cases to 129 and the number of deaths to 32.

"To contain the spread of Coronavirus, the ministry is working with the state governments on finding the contacts of the new cases which have been confirmed," he further said.

"The sudden increase in the number of confirmed cases has been due to delay in informing the authorities," Aggarwal added.

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