Centre directs states, UTs to end Covid restrictions amid decline in cases

New Delhi: Noting the declining trend in the country's pandemic since last week, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in its letter on Wednesday directed all states and UT's to end Covid-19 restrictions.

In a letter directed to chief secretaries of all states, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that with the changing epidemiology of the COVID-19 pandemic globally and in India, existing guidelines aimed at minimising transmission and circulation of the virus have been reviewed and updated.

In his letter, Bhushan wrote, "The Covid-19 pandemic in India is showing a sustained declining trend since January 21, 2022. The average daily cases during last week were 50,476 and 27,409 new cases have been reported in the last 24 hours. The daily case positivity on February 15, has declined to 3.63%."

After looking at the current Covid-19 trend and positivity rates in states, the letter stated that the movement of people and economic activities should not be hampered by the additional Covid-19 restrictions.

However, the letter asked the states/UTs to continue monitoring the trajectory of cases on a daily basis.

Also, the health secretary asked states to follow the five-fold strategy of test, track, treat vaccination and adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour.

The new direction comes as the country continues to register a sharp decline in new daily cases after touching a peak of nearly 3.7 lakh infections on January 21 while the active COVID-19 cases also fall rapidly.

All the states in India are now recording a swift decline in the number of active COVID-19 cases every day.