Covid-19: Eleven Labelled ‘States Of Grave Concern’

The Centre labelled 11 states as “states of grave concern” which registered high number of daily Covid-19 cases and deaths but not taking sufficient precautions to contain the spread of the disease.

The situation in Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab and Chattisgarh is worrying while the condition in Karnataka, Kerala, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Naidu and Haryana is increasing concern with significant surge in number of daily cases, the officials said.

In a meeting held to review the Covid-19 situation, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba exhorted the chief secretaries of the respective states to use all the resources at their disposal and check the surge in Covid-19 cases.

It has been reported that the 11 states contributed 90 per cent of Covid-19 cases and 90.5% of deaths as on March 31, in the last 14 days. The number of Covid cases registered in the second wave crossed or are close to crossing their early reported peak during last year.

In the last few days, the Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, along with semi-urban areas, have also recorded a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases. Officials fear that spread of Covid-19 from these areas to rural areas would overwhelm the local administration.

Last month, the Covid case growth rate was at 6.8% which surpassed the previous record of 5.5% in June, Gauba said, pointing at the continuous deterioration of the Covid situation in the country in the last fortnight. Similarly, daily deaths due to Covid-19 recorded a growth of 5.5% during this period.

During the peak of Covid-19 in September 2020, the country reported about 97,000 fresh cases daily but now, over 81,000 fresh cases are being registered daily.

The officials said that it should be ensured that RT-PCR tests comprise 70% of taotal tests, reduce waiting time for test results by going for regular review with testing labs, use Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) as screening test in densely populated areas, to check the spread of the diasese;

Further, all symptomatic RAT negatives should be mandatorily subjected to RT-PCR tests,” the officials added.