In letter to states/UTs, Centre asks officials to ensure maintenance of Covid appropriate behaviour

The Centre on Saturday released a statement warning all states and Union Territories against the laxity in maintaining Covid appropriate behaviour. In a letter, Union Home Secretary Amit Bhalla asked states to monitor signs of a surge in Covid-19 cases, urging officials to ensure that there is no complacency in adhering to Covid-19-appropriate behaviour and in the test-track-treat strategy.

The warning from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare comes as several states continue with their unlocking process amid the steady decline in daily number of cases.

"With the 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 the restriction has to be taken, based on the assessment of the situation at ground level. While the opening up of activities, after a decline in cases is essential, the states and UTs must ensure that the whole process is carefully calibrated," the letter, issued by the Union home secretary, noted.

"However, the easing of restrictions in some states have led to the resumption of crowding of people in markets etc. without adherence to the norms of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. It is, therefore essential to ensure that complacency does not set in, and there is no let-up in adhering to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour while opening up activities," the letter highlighted.

"A system should be in place at the micro-level to ensure that whenever cases rise in a smaller place, it gets checked there itself, through local containment measures as per the existing guidelines issued by the ministry of health and family welfare," the Centre said.

Earlier, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Singh said that laxity in maintaining Covid appropriate behaviour led to the second wave of coronavirus.