Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya  advised five eastern states not to lower their guard and be vigilant even though the active cases of COVID-19 in most of the states and the positivity rate have shown a fall in the last two week

Mandaviya held a COVID review meeting with state health ministers, principal secretaries/ additional chief secretaries and information commissioners of Odisha, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal, according to an official release.

The Health Minister urged the states to monitor the case positivity rate on a daily basis and increase the RT-PCR testing rate as most of the states exhibited a lower share of such tests.

“While the active cases in most of the states and the positivity rate have shown a fall in the last two weeks, we still need to be vigilant and not lower our guard,” he stated.

The states were also advised to keep a close watch on the number of hospitalisations and deaths.

“It is important to analyse at the state level the proportion of vaccinated and unvaccinated of the hospitalised cases, the deaths and those on ventilators and oxygen support”, he advised them.

Mandaviya iterated that irrespective of the COVID variants, ‘test-track-treat-vaccinate and adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour’ continue to remain the tested strategy for COVID-19 management.

Noting that vaccination is a critical tool for pandemic management, Mandaviya urged the states to accelerate vaccination of all eligible populations, especially of the 15-17 age group and those whose second dose is due.