Covid-19: No ‘appropriate behaviour’ in 50 districts of Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, says Centre

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New Delhi: Central teams have reported non-adherence of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour in almost all of the 50 most-affected districts in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab, the Union health ministry said, advising the states to more strictly enforce norms to prevent spread of the coronavirus.

On the basis of feedback from the teams, the ministry has written to the states highlighting the areas of concern, including sub-optimal containment operations and contact tracing, skewed testing and shortage of health workers. Authorities need to work in these areas, it said.

Of the 50 districts most affected by COVID-19, 30 are in Maharashtra, 11 in Chhattisgarh and nine in Punjab, it said.

In a letter to the states, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the Centre has also taken note of issues related to vaccine availability, and required action to augment supplies will be taken based on available stock.

He said a brief summary of key performance indicators related to testing, hospital infrastructure and vaccination, as reported by the teams, has been shared for suitable corrective actions by state or district administrations.

Thirty central teams have been deployed for the most-affected districts in Maharashtra, Bhushan said.

The ministry has written to the state highlighting that containment operations were found to be sub-optimal in Satara, Sangli and Aurangabad districts, with less than satisfactory perimeter control and lack of active surveillance for influenza like illness cases.

Occupancy rates of available hospital bed capacity are very high in Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Nandurbar while medical oxygen supply was found to be an issue in Bhandara, Palghar, Osmanabad and Pune. Malfunctioning of ventilators was reported from Satara and Latur, and acute shortage of health workers from some other districts, the ministry said.

For Chhattisgarh, the team from Raipur and Jashpur districts reported lack of perimeter control in containment zones.  “There appears to be no restriction on movement of people inside containment zones. Hence, containment zones, including micro-containment zones, need to be strictly implemented,” a letter addressed to the state’s additional chief secretary (health) said.

Contact tracing needs to be reinforced in Korba. Resistance, even attacks on health workers, to containment activities and testing was reported from Dhaneli in Raipur. This needs to be addressed, it said.   Lack or shortage of RT-PCR testing facilities was reported from some districts.

In Punjab, there is a need to enhance focus on contact tracing in Patiala and Ludhiana.

Contact tracing and surveillance in SAS Nagar are being hampered due to shortage of manpower and additional workforce must be deployed, Bhushan said in his letter to the Punjab health secretary. Low rates of testing were reported from Patiala and there is no RT-PCR testing lab in Rupnagar. These need to be addressed, the letter said.  There is no dedicated COVID hospital in SAS Nagar and Rupnagar, and patients are being referred to neighbouring districts or Chandigarh, it said.