Centre rushes high-level teams to Himachal, UP and Punjab for Covid-19 management

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The Central government on Sunday sent high-level teams to Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh to help the state governments tackle the Covid surge.  Last week, the Union Government has sent teams to Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Manipur. All these states have been either reporting a rise in the number of active cases.

While a major spike in infections has become a cause of concern in Himachal, Punjab has recorded the highest death rate in India.

"These three-member teams will visit the districts reporting high number of Covid-19 cases and support the State efforts towards strengthening containment, surveillance, testing, infection prevention and control measures, and efficient clinical management of the positive cases. The Central teams shall also guide in effectively managing the challenges related to timely diagnosis and follow up," a press release issued by the government read.

Over the last 24 hours, the number of coronavirus cases in the country rose by 45,209, taking the total number of infections to 90.95 lakh, government data showed. Delhi continues to be the worst-affected in terms of daily spike, which has remained on an upward spiral since the last week of October.

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Himachal Pradesh's coronavirus death toll had crossed the 500-mark on Saturday with 18 more people succumbing to the infection, according to health department data. The death toll in the state now stands at 510, it said. Eight deaths were reported from Shimla, three each from Kullu and Chamba, two from Kangra and one each from Una and Lahaul-Spiti, while 915 new cases pushed the infection count of the state to 33,701.

In Uttar Pradesh, 24 new Covid-19 deaths were recorded on Saturday, taking the to 7,524 in the state, while the total cases surged to 5,24,223 with 2,326 new infections, officials said on Saturday. Twenty-three more people died from coronavirus in Punjab on Saturday as 719 fresh cases pushed the state's infection tally to 1,45,667, according to a medical bulletin.

Faridabad and Gurugram had earlier began random testing of commuters from Delhi as the national capital struggles to contain record numbers of Covid-19 patients.

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