NEW DELHI: The Union government on Saturday decided to rush central teams to ten states which have either major COVID-19 caseloads or are witnessing a high spurt in cases.
The states where the teams are being sent include Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The teams will comprise of a senior official from the Union ministry of health and family welfare, a joint-secretary-level nodal officer and a public health expert each. They are expected to help the state health departments of respective states in facilitating the management of the COVID-19 outbreak.
These teams are in addition to the 20 central teams of public health experts who were earlier sent to the high caseload districts.
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Apart from assessing the outbreak management, these teams had also reviewed the lockdown implementation in the states.
A central team led by health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal had been sent to Mumbai a few days ago to assess the situation as the city is struggling to cope with a massive surge in coronavirus patients, while another team led by AIIMS Delhi director Dr Randeep Guleria reached Gujarat on Saturday.
The Centre has been asking the states to intensify their efforts on surveillance of severe acute respiratory illnesses and individuals with influenza like illnesses.
These states have also been told to implement contact tracing and house-to-house surveys to catch COVID-19 patients early and reduce mortality rate.
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