Seven States have contributed 70% of the COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours and of these Maharashtra has recorded the maximum case load of almost 21%, followed by Andhra Pradesh (13.5%), Karnataka (11.27%) and Tamil Nadu (8.27%). Uttar Pradesh with 8.27%, West Bengal with 3.85% and Odisha with 3.84% are the other States, said the Union Health Ministry on Monday.
“Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka also account for about 50% of the deaths added in the last 24 hours due to COVID-19, with Maharashtra leading with 30.48%. The Union government is regularly engaging with States/UTs that are reporting a spurt in cases and those with higher fatality rate. They have been advised to undertake aggressive measures to ensure higher testing, effective clinical management to lower fatality and save lives along with efficient monitoring at various levels,’’ said the release.
Cumulative number of cases
It said 43% of the cumulative number of cases are recorded in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka while Tamil Nadu has contributed 11.66%.
The Ministry has also decided to deploy high-level Central teams to Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha which have seen a sudden surge and some of them are also reporting high mortality.
The Central teams will support the States’ efforts in strengthening containment, surveillance, testing and efficient clinical management of the positive cases and guide them in effectively managing the challenges related to timely diagnosis and follow up.
“Each of the multi-sectoral teams will comprise an epidemiologist and a public health expert,’’ said the Ministry.
Of these four States, Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of active cases, followed by Odisha (27,219), Chhattisgarh (13,520) and Jharkhand (11,577).
Removal of bottlenecks
“The Central government has been deputing teams from time to time to visit various States to interact with the authorities and get a first-hand understanding of the challenges and issues being faced by them to strengthen their activities and remove bottlenecks, if any,’’ said the Ministry.
The Ministry said from a single test in one lab in Pune in January 2020, the daily testing capacity has been scaled up to more than 10 lakhs in August. “The cumulative tests have crossed 4.23 crore on Monday; 8,46,278 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.’’
