Centre rushes high-level teams to Maharashtra, Punjab after COVID-19 cases spike
By TIOL News Service
NEW DELHI, MAR 06, 2021: WITH Maharashtra reporting 10,216 daily new COVID-19 cases and Punjab reporting 808 cases over the past 24 hours, a worried Centre has rushed high-level multi-disciplinary public health teams to the States on Saturday to assist the States in coronavirus surveillance, control and containment measures.
"The teams visit the States immediately and will visit the hotspot areas in the States and ascertain reasons for the surge," said an official statement.
The high-level team to Maharashtra will be led by Mr P Ravindran, Senior Chief Medical Officer, Disaster Management Cell, Ministry of Health, while Mr SK Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, will lead the team to Punjab.
"They will also brief the Chief Secretary/Secretary (Health) on their observations and remedial measures to be undertaken by the State Health authorities," they added.
According to the Ministry of Health, Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have consistently reported a high number of daily COVID-19 cases over the past week, accounting for nearly 82 per cent of the cumulative new additions in the past 24 hours.
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 1,11,92,088 on Saturday with the addition of over 18,000 fresh cases, while the number recoveries surged to 1,08,54,128 and fatalities to 1,57,656.