The Union Health Ministry will send central teams of specialists with nodal officers to ten states where COVID-19 infections are on the rise, according to documents seen by Hindustan Times.
On Friday, the health ministry’s emergency management cell issued an order announcing the deployment of multidisciplinary central teams.
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“In view of the rapid surge in cases, and deaths, because of COVID-19… noted in internal reviews, it has been seen that the number of Omicron cases has emerged in some states. It has also been observed that the pace of COVID-19 vaccination in these states is less than the national average. In wake of this situation, a decision has been taken to deploy multi-disciplinary central teams to 10 identified states some of which are either reporting an increasing number of Omicron and COVID-19 cases or slow vaccination pace to aid the efforts of the state and district administration for management of COVID-19,” read the official note from the Ministry of Health that HT has seen.
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Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Mizoram, Karnataka, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Punjab are the states to which the teams will be dispatched.
The teams will be stationed in these states for three to five days, depending on the need, and will collaborate with state health officials.
Contact tracing, including surveillance and containment operations; COVID-19 testing, including sending adequate samples from clusters to the Insacog lab network for genome sequencing; COVID appropriate behavior and enforcement; availability of hospital beds, sufficient logistics, including ambulances, ventilators, and medical oxygen; and COVID-19 vaccination progress have all been assigned to the teams.
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“The state-level central teams will assess the situation, suggest remedial actions, and submit a report every evening by 7 pm on the public health activities being undertaken to the disaster management cell (health ministry) besides submitting the same to the state government…,” the order read.
