A committee will be formed or a task force to take further steps to tackle the Covid situation by the State Government in consultation with the Union Government, says Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Gadkari right after a day the Union government sent an advisory to all states and union territories to keep a sharp watch on the situation in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases in some countries.
Following Ajit Pawar’s reference to the Union government’s advice for the state government to increase its vigilance and take extra measures, Fadnavis responded.
Pawar said that the state government should not be complacent because patients in China are being held in trucks and stringent lockdowns have been implemented there. Similarly to this, COVID-19 cases have increased in other nations.
Pawar recalled a slew of decisions taken and implemented by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi to combat the virus infection including the setting up of jumbo facilities and procurement of medicines and equipment.
‘’The government should take the Centre’s advisory seriously as the COVID-19 cases are rising in some countries. The government needs to set up a committee or task force to tackle the emerging situation,’’ he said.
The government will soon take action in this regard, says Fadnavis.
On Tuesday, 20 new COVID-19 patients were reported while 33 were discharged in Maharashtra. There was no death. The state has cumulative COVID-19 patients 8136368 while 7987824 have been discharged. The state has cumulative deaths of 148412 and there are 132 active patients as of Tuesday.
Union Health Secretary’s advisory
The union health minister Rajesh Bhushan in his letter dated December 20 had said, ‘’In view of the sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, United States of America, Korea, Brazil, and China, it is essential to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track the variants through Indian SARS CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network. Such as exercise will enable timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country and will facilitate the undertaking of requisite public health measures for the state.’
Bhushan had asked the states and UTs to ensure that as far as possible samples of all positive cases, on a daily basis, are sent to the designated INSACOG Genome Sequencing Laboratories.
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