Core teams to help Punjab and Chandigarh address the coronavirus crisis


Representative image

Representative image | Photo credit: PTI

New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Health has decided to deploy core teams in Punjab and Chandigarh to help them strengthen public health measures for the containment, surveillance, testing and efficient clinical management of COVID patients with the aim of reducing the mortality rate.

Punjab’s COVID-19 count is 61,527, while to date it has 15,870 active cases. The state has recorded 1,808 deaths.

“The number of tests per million for the state is 37,546 (the average figure for India is 34,593.1 today). At 4.97 percent, it is on the lowest spectrum of cumulative positivity,” the ministry said. .

The UT of Chandigarh has 2,140 active cases, while its cumulative cases amount to 5,502. Tests per million and cumulative positivity rate stand at 38,054 and 11.99 percent, respectively.

“The high-level teams will help the state and the UT to strengthen public health measures for the containment, surveillance, testing and efficient clinical management of COVID patients with the goal of reducing mortality and saving lives,” the ministry said.

“They will also guide them to effectively address challenges related to early diagnosis and follow-up,” he said.

The two-member teams will be comprised of a community medicine expert from PGIMER, Chandigarh and an epidemiologist from the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC).

These teams will be stationed in Punjab and Chandigarh for 10 days to provide expanded guidance in managing the coronavirus infection.

The Center is actively supporting states and UTs that are experiencing sudden increases in the number of cases and those that are reporting high mortality by delegating multi-sectoral core teams.

Many of these teams have visited various states and UT in recent months. Teams interact with field authorities to gain a first-hand understanding of the challenges and problems they face.

The Union Ministry of Health has been collaborating with several states and UTs that are witnessing an increase in COVID cases and high mortality in some districts for the past two days.

Those states and UTs have been advised to proactively adopt comprehensive measures to break the chain of infectious disease transmission and reduce mortality, eventually falling below one percent, the ministry said.