Health Ministry wants better monitoring in 30 municipal areas with 80% corona cases

NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry on Saturday said officials of 30 municipal areas contributing 80 per cent of COVID-19 cases should maintain high vigilance and monitoring in areas of old cities, urban slums and other high- density pockets along with camps for migrant workers to manage COVID-19 in urban areas.

Health Secretary Preeti Sudan held a high-level review meeting with the Principal Health Secretaries, Municipal Commissioners, district magistrates (DMs) and other officials from the 30 municipal areas which are contributing almost 80 per cent of the country's COVID-19 cases.

The officials of these 30 municipal areas were informed about the management of indicators such as the high doubling rate, high case fatality rate and high confirmation percentages seen in the containment zones.

"It was also highlighted that especially in the densely populated urban areas, more challenges need to be considered such as poor socio-economic conditions, limited health infrastructure, lack of social distancing and issues faced by women among others factors", said a statement issued by the Health Ministry.

It highlighted that the geographic area of the containment zones should be defined based on factors such as mapping of cases & contacts, geographical dispersion of cases and contacts, area with well-demarcated perimeter and enforceability.

These 30 municipal areas are from the following States/UTs: Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Odisha.

The Health Secretary also emphasized that along with the containment and management of COVID-19 cases, the issue of continuing all essential non-COVID health services in the urban localities such as RMNCHA+N care, cancer treatment, TB surveillance, immunization efforts and vector control measures in view of the ensuing monsoon need to be ensured.

The Health Ministry asked the municipal areas to focus on effective risk communication in order to build trust and confidence. The ministry asked the officials concerned to engage with community leaders and local opinion leaders who could accompany the local surveillance teams to encourage cooperation from the local communities.

"Mumbai shared its experience of 'containment leaders', who were local community elders and leaders working with ward officers to support the government efforts in encouraging the people particularly in the slum clusters", said the statement.

According to the ministry, a total of 30,150 people have been cured. "In the last 24 hours, 2233 patients were found cured. This takes the total recovery rate to 35.09%. The total number of confirmed cases is now 85,940. Since yesterday, an increase of 3,970 has been noted in the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in India", said the ministry.

The Health Secretary also emphasized that attention needs to be accorded to timely tracing of patients to improve recovery percentage, SARI/ILI surveillance and more effective human resource management. (IANS)