The Central government on Tuesday advised all the Union Territories to plan their Covid-19 strategies in advance for the next three weeks because this phase would be critical in the fight against the disease.

In order to control the situation and prevent it from worsening, the Centre suggested all UTs to ramp up their testing capacities, strengthen their health infrastructure, earmark containment zones and ensure strict enforcement of Covid-appropriate behaviour.

Speaking at a high-level meeting with chief secretaries and police chiefs of all the UTs, Dr. V.K. Paul, member, NITI Aayog, pointed out that the next three weeks would be critical for taking measures to control the spread of Covid-19.

The virtual meeting was held in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases in the country and was chaired by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Union health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan. Apart from Dr VK Paul, Dr Balram Bhargava, DG ICMR also participated in it.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla said there has been a steep rise in number of Covid-19 cases across the country. From 20,000 cases reported on January 1, India’s daily case count has increased more than 10 times. He said in the past 11 days, daily new cases have almost doubled from 1.31 lakh (on April 9) to 2.73 lakh (on April 20).

Most Union Territories have already imposed restrictions on people’s movement, including night curfew, to contain the spread of the virus. Chandigarh said it is conducting door-to-door counselling for increasing vaccination and 90% Covid-19 patients are in home isolation. The Delhi government also expressed gratitude for the Centre’s timely support for helping in enhance their hospital beds capacity.

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