Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said there was a need to be more vigilant for the next three months. (File)
New Delhi:
Expressing concern at the increase in daily COVID-19 cases and mortality in some districts of Chhattisgarh, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Friday that the death rate in the 24th and 72nd hours following hospitalization at 34.8% and 46.2% respectively indicates that the cases are unidentified before moving to an advanced state.
Mr. Vardhan, who interacted with Tribhuvaneshwar Saran Singh Deo, Minister of Health and Medical Education of Chhattisgarh in the presence of district magistrates and municipal commissioners from different districts, reiterated his concern that the coming winter and the long holiday season pose a significant risk that could threaten gains made against COVID-19, the health ministry said in a statement.
“We all need to be more vigilant over the next three months. The Prime Minister’s message about wearing a mask, maintaining physical distance and frequent hand washing should reach the last citizen,” he said. he said in the press release.
Comparing Chhattisgarh’s COVID trajectory with that of the country, Mr Vardhan said, “The state’s recovery rate is 87% against the national rate of 92%. The state actually has a lower death rate of 1.19%. against 1.49% for the whole country. “
He expressed concern that the state is still experiencing high positivity in the districts of Rajnandgaon, Durg, Raipur, Bilaspur, Raigarh and Baloda-bazar as cases are also increasing in tribal areas, the statement said.
“The percentage of deaths within 24 and 72 hours of hospitalization, at 34.8% and 46.2% respectively, indicates that cases are not identified until they progress to advanced condition. This is a matter of concern and must be taken care of by the state. authorities, ”he said.
The Union Health Minister also observed that the RT-PCR / Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) ratio in the state is currently 20:80 percent. He said if RAT has its advantages in early identification, the benchmark for testing is RT-PCR and the state needs to increase its proportion, the statement said.
The third area of concern highlighted by Mr Vardhan was the rise in the number of daily deaths in recent days, by around 50 on average.
Dr Sujeet Singh, Director of the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) briefed those present during the interaction on the trajectory of COVID in the different districts of Chhattisgarh.
Saran Singh Deo noted that the state administration saw the maximum spread in the central regions of the country along the Mumbai-Kolkata transport corridor.
He said the recent inflation in death figures was due to clearing the backlog of the early days, adding that recent reports had recorded the “ cause of death ” and that reconciliation led to the surge.
Mr Deo believed that once these arrears were cleared, the daily death figures would stabilize. The Chhattisgarh minister also shared many of the administration’s best practices, such as its readiness for last mile vaccine delivery and the savings in bulk purchasing of medical items related to COVID-19, the report said. communicated.
Mr Vardhan has interacted with DMs from districts reporting an outbreak in cases such as Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur and Baloda-Bazar. The DMs shared their experiences and best practices in strengthening the medical infrastructure, measures to instill appropriate behavior in COVID-19, improve testing and conduct prevalence surveys.
Rajesh Bhushan, Union Secretary of Health, urged the Chhattisgarh administration to take some action – step up testing, verify feasibility of targeted testing in areas where super-diffusion can take place such as markets and bus terminals, to complete contact tracing within the first 72 hours. , to prepare a database of co-morbid people over the age of fifty for their targeted follow-up.
He added that in order to encourage people to adopt COVID appreciative behavior, communication for behavior change was important.
Mr Bhushan urged the state government to appeal to people to follow appropriate COVID behavior by Panchayat officials, ULB officials, MPs, ministers and other prominent figures from foreground in the state, the statement added.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
