The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday urged Punjab and Chandigarh to effectively implement the “Test, Track and Treat” strategy and escalate testing till the positivity rate comes down below 5 per cent. The state and the UT were also asked to significantly increase testing in all districts with a minimum of 70 per cent RT-PCR tests, and use of Rapid Antigen Tests as screening tests in densely populated areas as well as areas where cluster of cases are reported.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan held a high-level meeting with NITI Ayog member Dr V.K. Paul to review the COVID-19 situation in Punjab and Chandigarh and the measures taken by the health authorities for surveillance and containment. Dr Balram Bhargava, DG ICMR and Dr Sunil Kumar, DGHS, MoHFW were also present.
Both the state and the UT were asked to mandatorily subject those who have tested negative in Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) to RT-PCR test. The health ministry further directed to ensure priority vaccination of the eligible population groups in districts reporting higher cases and transfer unused vaccine doses from one district to another for optimum utilization of available vaccine doses.
The health authorities should ensure that no sedimentation of vaccine takes place at any level of cold chain storage. They should also ensure maximum utilisation of vaccination capacity in the public and private sector health facilities.
“The Centre is regularly reviewing vaccine stock, and vaccine doses will be continually replenished by the Centre based on the consumption level of the States/UTs,” said a health ministry statement.
All district officers and the local administration in Punjab and Chandigarh were asked to refocus on effective house-to-house surveillance to identify active cases with focus on timely testing, prompt contact tracing and swift isolation so as to break the chain of transmission. They were also asked to identify clusters, focus stringent implementation of micro-containment zone approach.
Punjab has reported nearly 21 per cent week-on-week increase in new COVID cases and about 2,740 average daily cases in the last seven days. During the same time period, the State has also seen a 30 per cent week-on-week increase in new COVID deaths and is reporting about 53 average daily deaths.
Chandigarh has also followed similar pattern in the last week. The UT has reported nearly 27 per cent week-on-week increase in new cases and 180 per cent week-on-week increase in new daily deaths. An average of 257 daily cases and 14 daily deaths have been reported during the last week.
“Dr Paul re-emphasised the importance of stringent and continued measures to break the chain of transmission and not frittering away the gains of collaborative efforts of last year,” the health ministry statement said.
