Centre rushes high-level teams to COVID hit Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab

The teams are being rushed to 30 districts of Maharashtra, 11 districts of Chhattisgarh and nine districts of Punjab

The Central government has constituted 50 high level multi-disciplinary public health teams and deployed them to 50 districts across Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab in view of the recent very large numbers of daily new COVID-19 cases and daily mortality being consistently reported by these states. The teams are being rushed to 30 districts of Maharashtra, 11 districts of Chhattisgarh and nine districts of Punjab to assist the State Health Department and local authorities in COVID-19 surveillance, control and containment measures. 

The two-member high-level team consists of a clinician/epidemiologist and a public health expert. The teams will visit the States immediately and monitor the overall implementation of COVID-19 management, especially in testing, including surveillance and containment operations; COVID appropriate behavior and its enforcement; availability of hospital beds, sufficient logistics including ambulances, ventilators, medical oxygen etc., and COVID-19 vaccination progress.

Three senior officers from the Government of India have been appointed as nodal officers for the three states of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab. Vijoy Kumar Singh, AS&FA, Ministry of Textile is the nodal officer for Punjab; Richa Sharma, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is the nodal officer for Chhattisgarh, whereas Kunak Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is the nodal officer for Maharashtra. The high-level teams will report to and coordinate with the nodal officers for the three states. Daily reports on five aspects including testing; contact tracing including surveillance and containment; hospital infrastructure including ICU, ventilator and oxygen beds; enforcement of COVID appropriate behavior; and COVID vaccination will be looked upon.

PIB