Centre rushes expert teams to Maharashtra, Punjab to help manage surge in COVID-19 cases

New Delhi [India], March 6 (ANI): The Central Government has rushed high-level multi-disciplinary public health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab in view of the increase in the number of daily new COVID-19 cases being consistently reported by these states, the Union Health Ministry informed on Saturday.
The teams are being deployed to assist the State Health Departments in COVID-19 surveillance, control and containment measures.
"The high-level team to Maharashtra will be led by Dr P Ravindran, Sr CMO, Disaster Management Cell, MOHFW. While the public health team to Punjab will be led by Dr S K Singh, Director, National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi," the ministry said.
The teams will visit the hotspot areas in the States and ascertain the reasons for the surge. They will also brief the Chief Secretary and Secretary (H) on their observations and remedial measures to be undertaken by the State Health authorities.
"The Union Government has been leading the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic with a 'Whole of Government' and 'Whole of Society' approach under the umbrella strategy of 'Cooperative Federalism'. As an ongoing effort to strengthen efforts of various state and UT governments for COVID management, the Central Government has been deputing Central teams from time to time to visit various states and UTs," the ministry added.
These teams will interact with the state and UT authorities and get a first-hand understanding of the challenges and issues being faced by them so as to strengthen their ongoing activities and remove bottlenecks if any.
The ministry further said that the reports of central teams will be shared with the states for further follow-up action. The follow-up and compliance on part of states are monitored by the Union Ministry of Health.
As many as 18,327 new COVID-19 cases and 108 deaths were reported in India in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Saturday.
The country's overall COVID-19 cases tally has reached 1,11,92,088, including 1,80,304 active cases while the death toll has mounted to 1,57,656.
According to the health ministry, a total of 1,94,97,704 people have been vaccinated against coronavirus so far. (ANI)