With the crumbled state of the healthcare sector in Bihar, it is becoming very difficult to contain the spread of Coronavirus. There has been an upsurge of COVID cases in recent weeks in- Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Odisha, so the Union Health Ministry has sent a letter to these states, to make renewed efforts to curtail the spread of Coronavirus.
Also, read https://thesecondangle.com/a-forever-neglected-bihar-a-state-dealing-with-poverty-and-pandemic/
The ministry ordered that the renewed efforts should push the Fatality rate below 1%.
As the testing in these states is very low as compared to other states, “In terms of testing the state should aim to achieve a minimum of 14 tests per one lakh (140 tests per million) per day while ensuring a positivity rate of less than 10 per cent,” the letter to the states read.
The states are required to use tools to anticipate the requirement of beds for COVID patients and also calculate the number of Oxygen cylinders needed.
“A nodal officer to keep a track of oxygen requirements and for relevant communication with the centre is to be appointed,” the letter said. Union will send a multidisciplinary team to Bihar to examine and coordinate with the state in the management of health facilities in the pandemic.
The centre has also asked to trace the close contacts of 80% of the new cases and get them quarantined within 72 hours of confirmation of their COVID report.
The number of cases reported in Bihar is approx 740, taking the total number of cases to approx 24,968 as on Saturday. The state has seen over 200 deaths and the number of recoveries in the state is over 14,000.
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