Covid Cases Rising in Assam and West Bengal, Centre Issues Warning

NEW DELHI: Government of India on 26 October in a letter to chief secretaries of Assam and West Bengal highlighted the issues related to the rise of new covid cases every week in the states since the last weeks.

It has also highlighted declining tests and early signs of increasing positivity rate since the last 4 weeks till 25 October.

The Centre has requested the State Government of Assam and West Bengal to take necessary measures in regard to the rising COVID cases in the states. The decrease in the number of testing and increase in weekly positivity rate is a matter of concern therefore enforcement of strict laws is needed in the states to maintain the spread of coronavirus.

Arti Ahuja, Additional Secretary in the Union Health Ministry through the letter to chief secretaries of Assam and West Bengal on 26 October brought to light that there has been an increase in weekly new covid reports since past weeks from 20 October to 26 October. She also mentioned the early signs of an increase in positive cases from the recent weeks till 25 October.

Ms. Ahuja also pointed out that there has been increasing of 41% in new weekly covid cases and early signs of rising positivity from 1.89% in the week of September till 4 October which increases up to 22% during the week of 19 October to 25 October in Assam.

She further added that the state Assam has witnessed declining in tests which were carried out from 1, 64,071 in the week of September 28 to 4 October and decreased up to 1, 27,048 by the week of October 19-25. Focusing on the rising covid cases the state needs to conduct more testing by maintaining the share of RT-PCR as it will help in the early identification of the disease spreading in the state. The district of Barpeta and Kamrup metro are identified as serious concerns regarding the rising of new cases and weekly positivity.

Earlier Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushinan On October 22 had written a letter to the Government of West Bengal expressing his concern over the matter of increasing covid cases in the state of Kolkata following the celebration of the Durga Puja festival. In the state of West Bengal mainly the districts of Kolkata and Howrah need to be focused on the matter of quantum of covid cases and positivity.

Ahuja highlighted that weekly new case since the past week in West Bengal has increased up to 41% as in the week of October 20-26 with 6,040 cases compared by October 13-19 with 4,277 cases. Early signs of increased positivity are shown as in the week of 28 September with 1.93% up to 4 October and 2.39% in the weeks of October 19-25. The state has even shown a decline in the tests conducted during 28 September from 2, 62,319 and on 4 October decreased to 2, 61,515 by October 19-25.

The letter stated that Assam and West Bengal need proper implementation of the containment zones along with a focus on the search of active covid cases, daily observance on home isolations, and strengthening of the contact traces. Monitoring treatment and other hospitals facilities must be a concern for the government including a review of the number of fatalities that occur within 24 and 72 hours of admission to hospitals for the analysis of deaths district-wise and facility-wise.

Ahuja mentioned in the letter about the availability of hospital beds and other infrastructure facilities including Treatment protocols, ventilator capacity, ICUs, etc by making the admission process smooth and simple. The letter advised targeting 100 percent coverage of the first dose of vaccine by increasing the chance for the second dose. She urged that people need to follow the covid protocols issued by the government mentioning wearing masks and maintaining a physical distance.

The letter suggested the formation of the rapid response team according to the guidelines of INSACOG for further and detailed investigation. It has also asked for timely updating of district-level data of new cases of covid, the status of hospitalization, deaths along with the regular submission of international travelers as well as from community for genomic analysis at the designated Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network laboratory as per laid down protocols.

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