Dr Harsh Vardhan emphasizes on staying vigilant for next three months

New Delhi: “We all need to be more vigilant for the next three months. Prime Minister’s message of wearing mask, maintaining a physical distance and frequent handwashing should reach the last citizen.” This was stated by Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare while reiterating his concern that the coming winter and the long festive season pose a significant risk that could threaten the gains made against COVID-19.

Dr Harsh Vardhan was interacting virtually with Mr Tribhuvaneshwar Saran Singh Deo, Health and Medical Education Minister of Chhattisgarh in the presence of District Magistrates and Municipal Commissioners of different districts of Chhattisgarh on November 6, 2020.

Comparing the COVID trajectory of Chhattisgarh with that of the country, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “The recovery rate of Chhattisgarh stands at 87 percent against the National rate of 92 percent. The State actually has a lower CFR of 1.19 percent compared to 1.49 percent for the entire country.” The Union Health Minister also observed that the RT-PCR to RAT Ratio of the State is presently 20:80 percent. While the RAT has its benefits in early identification, he added that the gold standard of testing is RT-PCR and the State needs to increase its proportion.

Dr Sujeet Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) apprised everybody present on the trajectory of COVID in the various districts of Chhattisgarh.

Dr Harsh Vardhan interacted with the DMs of the districts reporting a surge in cases such as Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, and Baloda-Bazar. The DMs shared their experiences and best practices of strengthening the medical infrastructure, measures to instil COVID Appropriate Behaviour, enhanced testing, and conducting prevalence surveys.

Mr Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary requested the Chhattisgarh Administration to ramp up testing; to check the feasibility of targeted testing of areas where superspreading may take place like markets and bus terminuses; to complete contact tracing within the first 72 hours; to prepare a database of people who are co-morbid and more than fifty years of agevfor their focused monitoring.