Guwahati, Dec 19: In view of the surge in Covid-19 cases in certain states, the central government issued advisories on Monday to states and Union Territories to maintain a state of constant vigil over the spread of the virus.
In a letter to the states and UTs, the Health Secretary, Sudhansh Pant, emphasised the importance of continuous monitoring of the Covid situation.
“Due to consistent and collaborative actions between Centre and State Governments, we have been able to sustain the trajectory at sustainable low rates,” Pant said.
“However, as the Covid-19 virus continues to circulate and its epidemiology behaviour gets settled with Indian whether conditions and circulation of other usual pathogens, it is of utmost importance that we maintain a state of constant vigil over the CIVID situation, right up to the District levels,” he added.
The health secretary directed the states to ensure monitoring and reporting of District-wise Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) cases in all health facilities on a regular basis including in the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) portal, for detecting the early rising trend of cases.
This comes after Covid-19 pandemic have resurfaced in the country after several people in Kerala have been infected by the new JN.1 variant.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has labeled the JN.1 as a ‘variant of interest’ that has been identified in the United States, China, Singapore and India so far.