Odisha Asked To Ramp Up Testing & Strict Implement On Containment Plan

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar : The Centre on Friday directed nine states including Odisha having high active caseload to urgently ramp up testing, strictly implement containment plan, augment health infrastructure and ensure effective clinical management.

A high-level virtual review meeting was chaired by Cabinet Secretary with the Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of the nine States that are driving the present spurt of the active caseload in the country. Other states that participated in the VC are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

“A graded, proactive, progressive and well-coordinated strategy of COVID-19 management between the centre and States/UTs has resulted in ever-increasing recoveries in the country, with progressively falling Case Fatality Rate. There are, however, some States which have in the recent past shown high rise in daily number of active cases and are emerging as concern areas from COVID management point of view,” said a statement of the Union Health Ministry.

Cabinet Secretary reviewed the State specific COVID response strategy with the Health Secretaries and other State officials as well as on the factors that were leading to rising case-load in these States in recent times.

In keeping with the “Test Track Treat’ strategy, the States were advised to ramp up the testing with special focus on containment zones. Areas of concern with respect to low testing in certain states was highlighted. It was reiterated that sustained and aggressive testing is crucial for early identification of cases and to prevent spread of infection.

Cabinet Secretary stressed the need for prompt and proper delineation of containment zones as per the guidelines of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; intensive contact tracing and house-to-house active case search within the Containment Zones so as to effectively break the chain of transmission. Buffer Zones to be identified outside the Containment Zones and continued surveillance of SARI/ILI cases needs to be undertaken.

The States were advised to have a clear focus on health infrastructure availability including requisite number of beds, oxygen and ventilators across the State with implementation of clinical protocols ensuring the prescribed Quality of Care and seamless patient management. Effective ambulance management with zero refusal rate was also highlighted in the review meeting. Cabinet Secretary also emphasised the imperative of keeping the fatality rates low. For this, mapping of high-risk population must be done, particularly the elderly and aged people and those with co-morbidities.

The attention of the States was drawn to the fact that early detection and timely clinical management is the key to contain the spread of COVID-19.