Rohit Shishodia

Even as corona cases are surging everyday across India, the government is focused on keeping the Covid death rate low.

In the 18th review meeting on July 9, 2020, Union Health Minister Dr Vardhan told a group of ministers that the government will focus on reducing deaths due to Covid.

Interacting through video conference with the group of ministers, Dr Vardhan further added, “As we move forward, our focus shall be on the management of Covid-19 through strict containment measures and surveillance, utilizing full testing capacity, focus on monitoring of co-morbid and elderly population, predicting emerging hotspots leveraging digital tools such as Aarogya Setu and  ensuring seamless patient admission processes; focus on infrastructure preparedness (critical care beds, oxygen, ventilators and logistics).”

He pointed out that along with states/UTs, the aim is to reduce and keep the case fatality rate low by early identification and effective clinical management”.

According to the ministry, during the period of unlock 2.0, the future steps to contain Covid include sharp focusing on containment and surveillance including demarcation of Containment Zones, notification of containment zones on the websites, strict perimeter control and allowing only essential activities, intensive contact tracing and house-to-house search/surveillance.

Eight states including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat contribute to around 90% of the active caseload and 49 districts account for 80% of active caseload, as of today, Vardhan told the GoM.

“Moreover, six states (Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) account for 86% of total deaths, and 32 districts account for 80% deaths. The GoM was briefed that special efforts were made in the regions showing higher Case Fatality Rate,” reads a ministry press note.