As Covid-19 cases continue to show an upward tick across India, health authorities have been put on alert. Several states have started reimposing mask rules and other restrictions to prevent a rerun of the pandemic.
On Sunday, India logged 5,357 new coronavirus cases, while the active cases rose to 32,814, according to the updated health ministry data. Eleven deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
Earlier this week, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a high-level meeting with state health ministers and principal and additional chief secretaries to review the Covid-19 situation in the country and advised states to stay alert, be prepared to deal with adversities and create awareness about following Covid-appropriate behaviour.
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Mandaviya stressed identifying emergency hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases, ramping up testing and vaccination and ensuring readiness of hospital infrastructure.
According to the latest available data, eight states are reporting a high number of Covid cases in India. Of these, Kerala, Maharashtra and Delhi have more than 10 districts with over 10 per cent positivity. Meanwhile, over 5 districts are reporting more than 5 per cent positivity in Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Haryana.
Three states among these have mandated face masks again.
Kerala
Kerala health minister Veena George on Saturday said masks are mandatory for pregnant women, the elderly, children and those with lifestyle diseases in order to protect elderly people and other patients with comorbidities from the disease.
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The minister noted that most deaths were reported in people above 60 years and those with lifestyle diseases such as diabetes.
Kerala reported 1,801 COVID-19 cases, the health minister's office said in a statement, adding that the most number of cases were reported from Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam districts.
Puducherry
The Puducherry administration on Friday made mask-wearing compulsory in the union territory with immediate effect owing to the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases.
Highlighting the recent surge in coronavirus cases, District Collector E Vallavan told reporters that the administration has enforced a slew of precautionary measures "to minimise the risk of increase in transmission of Covid-19 in the coming days."
Vallavan said the public "should adhere to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour of wearing masks maintaining hand hygiene and physical distancing enforced in the whole of the Union Territory of Puducherry."
Haryana
Haryana took a precautionary step and made it mandatory to wear face masks in public places.
As per the latest available data, half of Haryana’s Covid cases were recorded from the Gurugram district, the state’s health department said in a bulletin on Friday.
There were two Covid-related deaths this week -- one in the Yamunanagar district on Tuesday and another in Gurugram on Thursday.
(With PTI inputs)
