Centre red flags sudden surge in Covid-19 cases over the last two weeks in 8 states

The Centre has red-flagged the sudden surge in Covid-19 cases over the last two weeks in eight states, especially in rural areas.

Health minister Harsh Vardhan reviewed the Covid-19 spread in Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Punjab, Telangana and Haryana on Wednesday. According to the health ministry, the states have witnessed a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases, increase in positivity and death ratio over the last two weeks. The Centre has expressed concern over the trend and warned states that projections indicate that this spread could become “significant” if not checked in time through rapid testing and tracing mechanisms.

The daily Covid-19 cases have increased 2.5 times over the last two weeks in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Odisha and 1.5 times in Punjab and Haryana. The health ministry officials presented the statistics at the meeting and pointed out that states have seen a manifold increase in positivity.


In Bihar, test positivity has increased from 3.2% to 12% in two weeks, in Haryana from 8.5% to 21% and in Odisha from 4% to 20% in four weeks.

“The rural involvement in states like Jharkhand, Telangana, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir is a cause for concern,” Harsh Vardhan reportedly told the states at the meeting. He also flagged the increasing death ratio as a cause for concern. “In Punjab, death ratio is almost 2.4% –– which is higher than the national average. Earlier, the UK variant was prevalent in Punjab but now we see there are a lot of factors that are driving this up. We need to work on these aspects,” he said.

Sujeet K Singh, director, National Centre for Disease Control, presented an analysis of the Covid trajectory in the states. He said that the apparent shift of Covid-19 towards the lower age groups is driven by the fact that the higher age groups have been vaccinated in considerable proportion by now. He suggested the ramping up of testing and vaccination in “peri-urban areas as the spread is now going to peri-urban and rural places”.

All states asked the government to address vaccine shortage and increase medical oxygen supply. States like Telangana and Punjab pointed out that they did not have enough vaccines to cover the second doses due in May. The health minister assured the states that their issues would be looked into.