Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has rushed two High Level multidisciplinary teams to Chhattisgarh & Chandigarh in view of surge in number of COVID-19 cases being reported from the State and UT. These teams shall work with the respective State/UT Government to ascertain the reason/s for surge, assist in undertaking gap analysis and recommend requisite COVID-19 control and containment measures.

The team to Chhattisgarh is headed by Dr. S K Singh, Director, National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and has experts from AIIMS, Raipur and All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health. The team to Chandigarh is led by Shri Vijoy Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary & Financial Advisor, Ministry of Textiles with experts drawn from Dr. RML Hospital, New Delhi and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi.

Chhattisgarh has recently witnessed a significant spurt in fresh COVID cases as well as new deaths every day. Chandigarh has also seen a significant surge in new cases. The deployed teams shall visit the most affected districts/hotspots in the State/UT to take a stock of on-ground implementation of public health interventions. They will share the key findings, recommendations and remedial measures to be taken up with the Chief Secretary/Chief Administrator.

The Union Government has been leading the fight against the Covid pandemic with a ‘Whole of Government’ approach. As an ongoing effort to strengthen efforts of various State/UT Governments for COVID management, the Central Government has been deputing Central teams from time to time to visit various States/UTs. These teams interact with the State/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 reports of Central Teams are shared with the states for further follow up action. The follow up and compliance on part of states is monitored by the Union Ministry of Health. This deployment is latest in a series of teams that Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has deputed over the last couple of months in view of reports of resurgence in number of cases currently being reported by many States.

***

MV/SJ