COVID-19: Health Ministry asks states to step up vigil, complete vaccination
With the COVID-19 numbers creeping up once again—no fourth wave has been officially declared, though some experts are saying so—the Union government has asked the state governments to step up vigil, especially in pockets showing a surge in the last few weeks.
The states have been cautioned against allowing symptomatic and unvaccinated people from travelling to festivals and attending gatherings.
They have also been asked to monitor and report to the Health Ministry the epidemiological profiles of patients admitted on showing symptoms of COVID-19—to report all influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARIs) from all district hospitals, major private hospitals and medical colleges across the districts.
“This will help to identify at an early stage any out-of-the-ordinary or different clinical presentation of the patients,” Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday.
He also asked states to ensure rapid completion of the second and precautionary doses of vaccines.
“The major action point is to focus on strengthening proactive surveillance as per the Revised Surveillance Strategy issued by Union Health Ministry on 9th June 2022”, he stressed. He mentioned the four-fold strategy of surveillance of incoming international travellers, community-based surveillance, sentinel site (both health facility-based and lab-based)surveillance and whole genome sequencing (WGS).
