Test-track-treat, vaccinate to curb spread: Centre to states as unlocking begins

The Centre urged states to ensure the "extremely important" five-fold strategy of Covid-appropriate behaviour, test-track-treat and vaccination to prevent the spread of the disease as states ease COVID-related lockdown.

New Delhi: As several states announced easing of COVID-19 restrictions it led to crowding in markets and other public places much to the concern of the the Centre who on Saturday urged states to ensure the five-fold strategy of COVID-appropriate behaviour. Calling it "extremely important" the government pointed out the rules of test-track-treat and vaccination must be followed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs in a communication to all states and Union Territories (UTs) also said that vaccination against COVID-19, in the present scenario, is critical to break the chain of transmission.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla insisted that "all state and UT governments should step up the pace of vaccination, to cover maximum number of people in an expeditious manner."

"With a decline in the number of active cases, many states and UTs have started relaxing restrictions. I would like to highlight that the decision to impose or ease restrictions has to be taken, based on the assessment of the situation at the ground level," he said.

Bhalla said while the easing of restrictions after decline in cases is essential, states and UTs must ensure that the whole process is "carefully calibrated". "While opening up, it would be extremely important to follow the five-fold strategy of Covid appropriate behaviour, test-track-treat and vaccination," he was quoted as saying by PTI.

The home secretary said regular monitoring of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour is required to prevent relapse.

On Saturday the country reported 60,753 new infections and 1,647 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours. India's weekly positivity rate now stands at 3.58%, while the daily positivity rate is at 2.98%.