Centre sends teams as Kerala, Maharashtra report highest active COVID-19 cases
By TIOL News Service
NEW DELHI, FEB 02, 2021: THE Ministry of Health on Tuesday, rushed high-level multi-disciplinary teams to Kerala and Maharashtra in a bid to reduce their daily new cases, as the States struggle with almost 70 per cent of the active cases nationwide.
"At a time when almost all States and union territories are showing a declining trend in number of cases and deaths due to COVID-19, Kerala and Maharashtra continue to report large number of cases," said the ministry.
Both States consistently record the highest number of new cases and fatalities.
At present, Kerala added 1,773 active cases while Maharashtra increased its COVID-19 case tally by 1,368, according to the Health Ministry's data portal on Tuesday morning. The number of cases active across India are 4,882.
"The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has decided to depute two high-level multi-disciplinary teams to Kerala and Maharashtra to collaborate with the State health authorities in instituting public health measures for COVID-19 management," said the official statement.
The Central team to Maharashtra comprises of experts drawn from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi.
The Kerala team has senior official from the Health Ministry along with experts from the regional office in Thiruvananthapuram and Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi.
The teams will work closely with the States, take stock of the on-ground situation and recommend necessary public health interventions to contain the large number of new cases.
The Kerala government has decided to bring the police into action to enforce social distancing in public places, to check the rising numbers. Kerala has 69,456 active coronavirus cases with 8,59,421 recovered and 3,760 dead.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra extended its COVID-19 lockdown till February 28, with activities reopening in a phased manner. The government also resumed local train service from Monday. For Maharashtra, the figures are 44,944 active cases with 19,32,294 recovered and 51,109 deaths.