With a surge in Covid-19 cases in Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Odisha, the Union Health Ministry has asked these states to make renewed efforts to contain transmission of the virus and keep case fatality rate below 1%.
With these states imposing lockdowns anew, the Health Ministry emphasised that the restrictions should be utilised to focus on containment, surveillance and testing in containment and buffer zones as the key strategy for early detection of cases and fatality management.
In a letter to Principal Secretaries (Health) and Secretaries (Health) of these states, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal asked them to ensure that at least 80% of the new cases have their close contacts traced and are in quarantine within 72 hours of case confirmation.
"In terms of testing the state should aim to achieve a minimum of 14 tests per one lakh per day, while ensuring a positivity rate of less than 10%," the letter to the states read.
Globally, cases had crossed 13.9 million leaving over 5,93,000 dead.
New York hospitalizations dropped to a four-month low, as fewer than 1% of residents tested Thursday were positive for coronavirus. Imperial College’s Covid-19 vaccine trial will progress to its next stage, the university said in a statement on its website.
Catalan officials imposed new curbs on movement and gatherings in Barcelona after the business and tourism hub suffered an upsurge in new cases. The European Union is negotiating advance deals for vaccines with companies including Moderna, Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson, BioNtech and CureVac, Reuters reported.
Track news and developments of the outbreak in India here.
