Centre warns Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra, Kerala, Mizoram over rising Covid cases

New Delhi, April 8

Union health secretary Rakesh Bhushan on Friday warned Haryana, Delhi, Kerala, Maharashtra and Mizoram about recent weekly surges in Covid 19 cases in these states despite sustained and declining national trends.

In a letter to Rajeev Arora, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Health, Haryana today, Bhushan said nationally Covid-19 cases had been plummeting for two months with the country reporting less than 1000 daily new cases for the past few days and weekly positivity below 1 per cent.

“There are few states reporting a higher contribution to India’s daily new cases. Given that the states are reopening economic and social activities, there is a need for continuous follow-up of a risk assessment-based approach for management of Covid- 19,” Bhushan wrote to states witnessing rising case trends.

Haryana, the ministry said, has reported a rise in weekly cases from 367 new cases in the week ending April 1 to 416 in the week ending April 8, accounting for 5.70 pc of India’s new cases.

The state has also seen a rise in positivity in the last week from 0.51 pc to 1.06 pc.

“You are advised to continue monitoring the spread of infection and undertake steps for effective Covid management through test, track, treat, vaccinate and adhere to Covid protocol strategy,” Bhushan wrote to Haryana.

The ministry similarly flagged the rise in cases in Delhi where weekly new cases jumped from 724 in week ending April 1 to 826 in week ending April 8, contributing 11.33 pc to India’s new cases. Delhi saw weekly positivity rise from 0.51 pc to 1.25 pc.

The maximum rise in weekly cases has been reported by Kerala with 2,321 cases reported in the week ending April 8, accounting for 31.8 pc of India’s new infections. Kerala’s weekly positivity rose from 13.45 pc to 15.33 pc.

Mizoram saw weekly cases soar to 814 in the week ending April 8 making up 11.16 pc of India’s new case load while the weekly positivity in the state has gone from 14.38 pc t0 16.48 pc.

In the week ending April 8, Maharashtra saw 794 cases contributing 10.9 pc to India’s new infection load and registering a rise in weekly positivity from 0.39 pc in the week ending April 1 to 0.43 pc in the week ending April 8.