NEW DELHI: In the midst of a surge in COVID-19 confirmed cases, the Government of India on Sunday, February 21, directed states to intensify the surveillance and conduct more Reverse Transcription- Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests. India has been encountering rising COVID-19 cases over the past few days and the total active caseload escalated to 1,45,634 on Sunday, February 21.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) said that Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, and Chandigarh have a weekly positivity rate which more than the national average. MoHFW added that lately, it is seen that there has been an amplification in daily cases in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh too. Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir too are experiencing a spike in daily new cases.
The Centre has instructed the states to work on major areas like improving the overall testing numbers by focusing on the proportion of RT-PCR tests, all negative rapid antigen test results to be strictly followed by RT-PCR test and no such negative persons are to be missed. States are also asked to focus on clinical management in districts reporting higher deaths.