New Delhi: Following the surge in Covid cases in China where lockdown has been imposed to prevent the spreading of the virus, the Centre has asked the State government to take the matter seriously.

The centre has suggested the States concentrate on a five-stage strategy to combat the virus.  The stages are, test, track, treat, follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and vaccinate.

The centre has also asked the State to resume economic and social activities within its limits.

In a letter written to the State government, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has asked the States and UTs to keep the required number of testing of samples to ensure timely detection.

Encourage the people to take vaccines who have not got administered with vaccines so far.

"States should also ensure that an adequate number of samples are submitted to the INSACOG network through Sentinel sites as per the protocol issued by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). This is to ensure timely detection of new variants while maintaining adequate testing as per the protocols for testing laid by ICMR”, the letter said.

Stating that awareness is an important tool in fighting the pandemic, the letter asked the State to focus more on spreading awareness which also includes making people wear face masks, maintaining physical distance in all public areas.

The government had released guidelines for graded resumption of economic activities on February 25 wherein the states were guided to resume the economic activities duly analyzing the local epidemiological situation.

Now with a sudden rise in the case of Covid in Southeast Asian countries and some countries of Europe, a high-level meeting was chaired by Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on March 16 where the states were advised to focus on aggressive genome sequencing, intensified surveillance and overall vigil on the Covid situation.

Meanwhile India is recording a steady decline in Covid cases, with daily cases now below 5,000 mark.