Take risk-assessment based approach to tackle spike in COVID-19 cases: Union health secretary to Tamil Nadu health department

Witnessing a spike in new COVID-19 infections, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday said Tamil Nadu accounts for 3.13 per cent of the new cases reported in the country and urged the state government to take a risk-assessment based approach to public health, without losing the gains made on the fight against the pandemic.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in a letter to Tamil Nadu health department principal secretary J Radhakrishnan said the state reported 659 new cases for the week ending June 3, 2022 accounting for 3.13 per cent of the country’s new cases.

Bhushan said, “A slight upsurge in cases being noticed to 21,055 cases reported across India and the positivity rate increased to 0.73 per cent for the week ending June 3, 2022.” In Tamil Nadu, he said, the cases increased to 659 for the week ending June 3, 2022 from the earlier 335 new cases reported for the week ending May 27 accounting for 3.13 per cent of India’s new cases.

“The state has also seen an increase in positivity in the last week from 0.4 per cent to 0.8 per cent,” Bhushan said.

Noting that Chennai and Chengalpet recorded an increase in weekly cases among districts, he said the rise in new cases in the two districts require focused intervention from the state administration.

Advising the state to continue implementation and monitoring of necessary measures for effective management of COVID-19, Bhushan said, the strategy of Test-Track-Treat-Vaccination should be followed with continued focus on COVID-19-appropriate behaviour, monitoring clusters of new COVID-19 cases, adequate testing among others.

“It is essential that the state must maintain a strict watch and take pre-emptive action if required to control any emerging spread of infection,” the Union health secretary added.