Health ministry sends teams to probe Covid surge in Maharashtra and Punjab

They will visit hotspots, ascertain reasons for the rise and guide local authorities on surveillance, containment and control measures

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TT   |   New Delhi   |   07.03.21 : Amid rising Covid cases in multiple states, India’s health ministry on Saturday sent expert teams to probe worrying surges in Covid cases in Maharashtra and Punjab and flagged deviations from standard testing protocols in eight other states.

The public health teams in Maharashtra and Punjab will visit hotspots, ascertain reasons for the surge and guide local authorities on surveillance, containment and control measures, the health ministry said.

In both states, the seven-day average of daily new cases has increased more than three-fold over the past four weeks — from around 2,500 to 8,600 daily cases in Maharashtra and from 199 to 741 in Punjab.

Health officials have identified 63 districts in eight states — Delhi (nine), Haryana (15), Andhra Pradesh (10), Odisha (10), Himachal Pradesh (nine), Uttarakhand (seven), Goa (two), and Chandigarh (one) — where the Covid tests have fallen.

Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Vinod Paul, member of Niti Aayog and a top adviser to the Centre on Covid, spoke on Saturday with officials from these states, pointing out the decreased testing and contact tracing. They have asked the states to improve testing, so that cases do not remain undiagnosed, intensify surveillance and containment in areas with clusters of cases and accelerate vaccinations for priority groups in districts with a large number of cases.

The surge in multiple states has pushed up India’s overall seven-day average of daily new cases by over 5,000 in the past month — from 11,000 daily cases in early February to 16,000 on Saturday.

A central health team that probed the surge in Maharashtra has said the exact causes remain “unknown” but has cited “Covid inappropriate behaviour” due to lack of fear of the disease, pandemic fatigue, and crowding from gram panchayat elections, marriage season, opening of schools and crowded public transport.

Instead of fearing the disease, people fear being detected positive and being isolated and pulled away from work, the team said in a report submitted to the health ministry earlier this week.

The team said political, religious, and marriage gatherings have contributed to the surge in several of Maharashtra’s districts. The report cautioned that the epidemic could “flare up” in other states such as Bengal where elections are coming up.

The team said the virus appears to be spreading to “hitherto unaffected areas” and people are not forthcoming, following quarantine restrictions or getting tested. The health machinery may have become lax after cases fell since September, it said.

In Nagpur, for instance, the team learnt that senior doctors and specialists do not actually attend to Covid patients, leaving clinical management to juniors, impacting nuanced therapy such as oxygen delivery.