People wait in a queue to interact with their relatives through a video phone facility set up by a COVID-19 help desk outside a hospital, in New Delhi, India, July 3, 2020. (MANISH SWARUP / AP)
NEW DELHI / SINGAPORE / YANGON – India's federal health ministry on Saturday wrote to seven states asking them to ensure adequate testing, promote COVID-19 appropriate behavior and increase the pace of vaccination to contain the ongoing increase in cases.
The letter written by federal health secretary Rajesh Bhushan warned that the upcoming festivals and mass congregations in different parts of India may potentially facilitate the transmission of infectious diseases
The letter written by federal health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has been dispatched to Delhi, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, warning that the upcoming festivals and mass congregations in different parts of the country may potentially facilitate the transmission of infectious diseases, including COVID-19.
"It is critical to ensure adequate testing is undertaken in all the districts of the states while maintaining the recommended share of RT-PCR and antigen tests. The states must also closely monitor districts reporting higher cases, positivity rates and clusters to prevent further spread of infection and effective case management," the letter was quoted by local media as saying.
In his letter to the Delhi government, Bhushan said the national capital has been reporting high average daily new cases (811 cases) for the past month with a high of 2,202 new cases reported on Aug 5.
Bhushan stressed genome sequencing of prescribed samples of international passengers as well as collection of samples from sentinel sites and local cluster of new COVID-19 cases are equally important and stated such samples must be sent promptly by the states to the designated lab of Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) network for genome sequencing.
The states were also advised to diligently follow the five-fold strategy of test, track, treatment, vaccination and adherence to COVID-19 appropriate behavior.
On Saturday morning, the federal health ministry reported 19,406 new cases of COVID-19 and 49 related deaths during the past 24 hours.
An elderly resident arrives to get tested at a temporary swab center set up at the void deck area on the ground floor of a public housing block, after a few positive COVID-19 cases were detected in the building, in Singapore on May 21, 2021. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)
Singapore
Singapore reported 5,633 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the total tally to 1,754,777.
Of the new cases, 613 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 5,020 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.
Among the PCR cases, 563 were local transmissions and 50 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, there were 4,863 local transmissions and 157 imported cases, respectively.
A total of 626 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 16 cases in intensive care units.
Two more deaths were reported from COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the total death toll to 1,536, the ministry said.
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Myanmar
Myanmar has recorded no new COVID-19 deaths over the past 122 days, the longest stretch without any fatalities from the virus since the start of the pandemic in the country, the Ministry of Health said on Saturday.
The death toll from COVID-19 in the country remained unchanged at 19,434 since April 7 this year, official data showed.
The country logged 20 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 614,190, the ministry said.
The ministry added that it tested 6,131 people for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, and the daily positivity rate was 0.33 percent.
Another 15 patients have been recovered and discharged from hospital in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 592,985.