India Witnessing Gradual But Sustained Rise In Covid Cases, GoI Issues Fresh Advisory
New Delhi, March 25 (TNA) Amidst the growing worry with a sharp increase in fresh cases of Covid, a joint advisory was issued by the Union health ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday saying that there has been a decline in testing for COVID-19 in some states over the past several weeks.
The union government is planning a nationwide mock drill on April 10 and 11 to take stock of the preparedness of hospitals. The central government has issued an advisory regarding this. It said that health units of both public and private sectors of all the districts would participate in this mockdrill.
At present, most of the corona cases in the country are being reported by a few states like Kerala (26.4 per cent), Maharashtra (21.7 per cent), Gujarat (13.9 per cent), Karnataka (8.6 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (6.3 per cent).
The advisory also states that the exact details of the mock drill will be communicated to the states in a virtual meeting to be held on March 27. The advisory, issued by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and ICMR Director General Dr Rajeev Behl, also states that the country is witnessing a gradual but sustained increase in COVID-19 cases since mid-February.
Also, it has been found that the testing levels are currently inadequate as compared to the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO). In view of this, the Union Health Ministry and ICMR have also asked all the states to promote corona testing and provide information about the symptoms.