On Thursday, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla reviewed the measures taken by the Maharashtra and Kerala governments for keeping the spread of coronavirus in control. He conducted this meeting via video conference.
During the meeting, the overall management of the COVID-19 situation in Kerala and Maharashtra was discussed while Bhalla observed that more efforts would be required to arrest the increase in infections.
"This would require adequate intervention in geographical areas having a higher infection, through measures such as contact tracing, vaccination drives and Covid appropriate behaviour and he also suggested that the state governments should explore the possibility of placing night curfew in areas of high positivity," the Home Ministry officials said.
In addition to this, it was advised that both the states should continue with their vaccination programmes. The officials in this meeting also assured that in case they required more vaccines, the same would be provided to the extent possible.
India inoculated over 80 lakh people against COVID-19 on Wednesday, August 25, surpassing the 60 crore mark in total doses administered, according to the official data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
As per the data, as of August 26, 7 am, Uttar Pradesh with 5,55,94,890 jabs in leading the vaccination drive. Maharasthra is currently at Number 2 with 4,02,70,837 doses. In terms of second doses, Maharashtra tops the list having administered 1,45,94,471 second doses. It is followed by Gujarat with 1,08,90,762 doses
Coming back to the review meeting, the official also emphasized that the state must continue to encourage the COVID-19 appropriate behaviour at all times. It was also suggested that events and mass gatherings, especially during the coming festive season should be avoided.
"It was also advised that testing must be ramped up in areas in the two states where positivity rates are being found to be on the higher side. Focus should also be placed over the next few months to suppress the levels of transmission of the virus so that the chain of transmission can be controlled more effectively", the officials who were privy to this meeting said.
NITI Aayog Member Dr V.K. Paul, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Director, National Centre for Communicable Disease (NCDC)and Chief Secretaries and Directors General of Police of Kerala and Maharashtra were present in the meeting.
Following the huge number of cases that were reported in Kerala, the Union Health Ministry decided to depute a high-level multidisciplinary team to the state and a six member central team headed by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director, was sent to Kerala on July 30.
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