Central teams rushed to Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab amid Covid-19 surge

The Centre has rushed teams of public health experts to 50 districts across Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab that have been reporting a surge in fresh Covid-19 cases and deaths.

“The teams are being rushed to 30 districts of Maharashtra, 11 districts of Chhattisgarh and nine districts of Punjab to assist the state Health Department and local authorities in Covid-19 surveillance, control and containment measures,” a Health Ministry statement said.

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The two-member high-level team consists of a clinician/epidemiologist and a public health expert.

“The teams will visit the states immediately and monitor the overall implementation of Covid-19 management, especially in testing, including surveillance and containment operations; Covid-19-appropriate behaviour and its enforcement; availability of hospital beds, sufficient logistics including ambulances, ventilators, medical oxygen etc, and Covid-19 vaccination progress,” the statement said.

Senior officers from the Centre – Additional Secretaries Vijoy Kumar Singh and Richa Sharma have been appointed nodal officers for Punjab and Chhattisgarh, respectively. Joint Secretary Kunak Kumar is the nodal officer for Maharashtra.

The high-level teams will report to and coordinate with the nodal officers for the three states and submit daily reports on five aspects – testing, contact tracing including surveillance & containment, hospital infrastructure including ICU, ventilator and oxygen beds, enforcement of Covid-19-appropriate behaviour, and Covid-19 vaccination.