Covid Surge: Nationwide Drill in Hospitals Today, Maharashtra Sees 45% Case Rise in 24 Hours

Amid a spike in Covid cases in several parts of the country, a nationwide drill will take place in both public and private hospitals across India on Monday and Tuesday (April 10 & 11). Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will visit AIIMS, Jhajjar on April 10 to oversee the mock drill.

Besides, Maharashtra saw a 45% spike in Covid cases in a span of 24 hours on Sunday. The state reported 788 fresh Covid-19 cases and one death, significantly more than the 542 fresh cases reported on Saturday, as per state health department data.

Here are key Covid-related updates:

• As part of the mock drill, state health ministers will be required to visit hospitals and oversee them. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had also advised them to review the preparedness with district administrations and health officials on April 8 and 9, a PTI report said.
• Mandaviya recently held a meeting with state health ministers, and principal and additional chief secretaries held virtually. He had stressed the need to identify emergency hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases, ramping up testing and vaccination, and ensuring readiness of hospital infrastructure.
• With the new case additions, the cumulative tally of cases in Maharashtra was raised to 81,49,929 and the death toll to 1,48,459. Mumbai city recorded 211 fresh cases on Sunday, making it the sixth consecutive day that the city saw 200 plus infections.
• Omicron and its sub-lineages continue to be the predominant variants. However, most of the assigned variants have little or no significant transmissibility, disease severity or immune escape, the healthy ministry had said in a statement.
• The national capital on Sunday logged 699 fresh Covid cases with a positivity rate of 21.15 per cent, according to data shared by the city government’s health department. Four people suffering from the virus died in the city. With the fresh cases, Delhi’s Covid tally rose to 20,14,637.
• Irrespective of the new variants, the five-fold strategy of ‘Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate and adherence to Covid-Appropriate Behaviour’ continues to remain the tested strategy for Covid management, Mandaviya had said in the meeting.
• Earlier, states and union territories were advised to increase the share of RT-PCR in tests and to expeditiously increase the rate of testing from 100 tests per million as on the week ending April 7.

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