New Delhi:

Maharastra has reported the highest death toll from Covid cases at 18 from January this year, when the fresh outbreak was noticed. Kerala recorded 12 deaths so far followed by Delhi and Karnataka with 7 deaths each. The number of Covid casualties was 5 in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab reported two deaths each. West Bengal and Rajasthan have reported one death each.

The Centre’s advisory of mock drills was aimed at checking emergency preparedness in case of a spurt in cases, ensure availability of oxygen, isolation beds, ventilators and essential medicines, according to the official communique.

Even as India's active Covid infections surged to over 6000 plus cases with 770 new infections in the past 48 hours, the union health ministry issued advisory to all the states asking for mock drills to be carried out as an emergency.

The health ministry data released Sunday showed that Kerala continues to be the most affected state, followed by Gujarat, West Bengal and Delhi. From January this year, a total of 65 deaths have been reported in the country.

The ministry said that six deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours. But health officials maintained that most cases are mild and managed under home care.

Dr Sunita Sharma, Director General of Health Services, reviewed the overall scenario in a bid to evaluate the current situation early this month. Representatives from the Disaster Management Cell, Emergency Management Response Cell, National Centre for Disease Control, Indian Council of Medical Research, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, central government hospitals in Delhi, and all states and Union Territories were part of the deliberations.

Health ministry officials indicated that state and district surveillance and monitoring under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme have been stepped up to keep a watch on Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI).

"Testing is recommended for all admitted SARI cases and 5 per cent of ILI cases as per guidelines, and positive SARI samples are sent for Whole Genome Sequencing through the ICMR VRDL network," an official said.

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