Omicron threat: Centre to deploy multi-disciplinary team in 10 states
text_fields
Amid the alarming surge in Omicron cases in the country, the Centre on Saturday decided to deploy multi-disciplinary central teams to 10 identified states that are either reporting an increasing number of Omicron and COVID19 cases or slow vaccination pace.
"Multi-disciplinary central deployed in Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Mizoram, Karnataka, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Punjab," the ministry said.
As per the notice, the teams are directed to do contact tracing, including surveillance, containment operations along with Covid-19 testing including sending of adequate samples from clusters to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium(INSACOG) network for genome sequencing.
The team will further oversee Covid appropriate behaviours and its enforcement, availability of hospital beds, sufficient logistics including ambulances, ventilators, medical oxygen etc and vaccination progress.
"The state-level central teams will assess the situation, suggest remedial actions and submit a report every evening by 7 p.m. on the public health activities being undertaken to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) besides submitting the same to the state government," it added.
Meanwhile, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan addressing a joint press conference on Saturday said the cause of concern is 11 states where vaccination is less than the national average.
The 11 states are Odisha, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Manipur, Punjab, and Nagaland.
India's Covid-19 caseload has surged to 3.47 crore with 7,189 cases in 24 hours. India reported 387 Covid-19 related deaths and 7,286 recoveries during the same time frame. Meanwhile, the daily active cases have declined to 484.
The total number of deaths due to the virus has surged to 4,79,520, which accounts for 1.38 per cent of the total caseload. The overall recoveries have increased to 3,42,23,263 while the active cases climbed to 77,032.