New Delhi, Sept 24, 2021: Keeping in mind the festive season, the Centre urged states governments to keep a strict vigil to curb Covid-19 spread.
Centre asks states to curb Covid-19 spread
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to the Chief Secretaries and Administrators of all the states and Union Territories advising them to keep a strict vigil to curb the spread of Covid 19 amid the festive season.
Centre urges states to keep vigil and curb Covid-19 spread
“Covid 19 still remains a grave and continuing public health challenge in our country. While the country is witnessing a sustained decline in the number of daily cases as well as daily deaths, but the second surge of COVID 19 is still not over. Globally also, the surge in cases is being reported across multiple countries. This surge in cases has reinforced the importance of implementation of Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) in addition to vaccination efforts,” read the letter.
It further adds, “In the coming months, various festivities will follow one after the other till December 31 2021. This is a critical period as there may be a tendency to ignore Covid-safe behaviour during festivals, resulting in large gatherings, events, fairs etc. It is critical to enforce adherence to guidelines to allow festivities in a cautious, safe and covid appropriate manner. Any laxity in implementation of Covid appropriate behaviour could lead to serious consequences and can result in a surge in cases.”
The letter further instructs the concerned authorities to keep mass gatherings restricted to a limited number of people and allow them in districts not classified as “containment zones” or areas reporting daily positivity rate of 5 per cent or below. Restrictions can be imposed and monitored on basis of weekly positivity rate and bed occupancy for a minimum of 14 days.
Authorities have also been instructed to follow the five-fold strategy of “Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate and adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour”.
Vaccine for differently-abled at home
The Centre announced that differently-abled people and those with restricted mobility will be given Covid-19 vaccine at home. However, they added, 62.73% of total infections reported last week were from Kerala alone, which is the only state with over 1 lakh active Covid-19 cases.
Thirty-three districts in the country are now reporting over 10 per cent weekly positivity rate, while 23 are recording between 5-10 per cent, the officials said.
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Under Covid-19 guidelines for the upcoming festival season, mass gatherings have to be avoided in containment zones and in districts with over 5 per cent positivity rate, they said.
On the vaccination drive, they said as much as 66 per cent of the country’s adult population has been given at least one jab and 23 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Announcing further ramping up of the vaccination drive, they said that differently-abled people and those with restricted mobility will administered the doses at their home.
PTI
