25 districts in 15 states have not reported new Covid-19 cases: Govt

Twenty-five districts across 15 states which had detected Covid-19 infections earlier have contained the spread and reported no new cases in 14 days, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

The ministry asserted that the government has enough stocks to conduct tests for up to six weeks and over 200,000 samples have been tested so far.
 

Addressing a press briefing here, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said “25 districts across 15 states which had reported cases earlier have contained the virus and have not detected new ones in 14 days. This is a positive development.”

The districts are Gondia (Maharashtra), Raj Nand Gaon (Chhattisgarh), Davangiri (Karnataka), South Goa, Wayanad and Kottayam (Kerala), West Imphal (Manipur), Rajouri (J&K), Aizwal West (Mizoram), Mahe in Puducherry, SBS Nagar in Punjab, Patna, Nalanda and Munger in Bihar, Pratapgarh in Rajasthan, Panipat, Rohtak and Sirsa in Haryana, Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand, and Bhadradari Kothagudem in Telangana.
 

Agarwal also said that the Core Strategy Group on Covid-19 was working on rapid and economical diagnostics as well as new drugs.
 

“The group has been formed, based on a detailed review of Covid-19 research, undertaken by Union Health Minister Harshvardhan along with CSIR and its 38 labs. The group is working on digital and molecular surveillance, rapid and economical diagnostics, new drugs, repurposing of drugs and associated production “ he said.
 

According to Indian Council of Medical Research officials, 206,212 tests for Covid-19 have been conducted so far.