
TIA WEB DESK
The Centre has directed State Governments to focus all efforts on reducing COVID-19 mortality. Union Health Ministry said, coordinated, graded and pro-active management of COVID-19 by the Centre, States and Union Territories has ensured the national Case Fatality Rate is on the slide. It currently stands at 2.04 per cent.
As part of the continuous process of review and handholding of States and UTs for collaborative management of COVID-19, two high level virtual meetings were chaired by Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan to engage with the states reporting with high case load and higher Case Fatality Rate than the national average. It said, government is supporting them on efforts to prevent and reduce mortality due to COVID-19.
The Ministry said, today’s meeting focused on 13 districts concentrated in eight States and UT. These are Kamrup Metro in Assam, Patna in Bihar, Ranchi in Jharkhand, Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Ganjam in Odisha, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, 24 Paraganas North, Hooghly, Howrah, Kolkata and Maldah in West Bengal. These districts account for nearly nine per cent of India’s active cases and about 14 per cent of COVID deaths.
They also report low tests per million and high confirmation percentage. A surge has been observed in the daily new cases in four districts – Kamrup Metro in Assam, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha in Kerala. They were advised to ensure timely referral and hospitalization in view of reports from some districts of patients dying within 48 hours of admission.
States were asked to ensure a timely assessment and make advance preparedness for infrastructure like ICU beds and oxygen supply, based on the prevailing case load and the estimated growth rate.