Ministry of Home Affairs extends COVID-19 guidelines till February 28

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday extended the COVID-19 guidelines issued under the Disaster Management Act till February 28.

The Ministry said in an order that the previous order issued till January 31, to ensure compliance with the “prompt and effective containment measures for COVID-19” will remain “in force up to Jan 31”.

The MHA asked States to take relevant action under various provisions of the Disaster Management Act for strict implementation of containment measures.

The current guidelines are applicable till January 31.

In a communication to chief secretaries of all states and union territories, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla asking for issuing necessary directions to authorities concerned for effective management of the disease

"All States/UTs must observe all precautions&not let the guard down,"he wrote

Mr. Bhalla had said the daily cases and overall number of patients in the country were declining steadily but there were localised spread of virus in a few states and COVID-19 continued to be a public health challenge in the country.

He said the State governments and Union Territory administrations should continue with their vaccination programmes with focus to accelerate inoculation of eligible age groups and prioritisation of second dose to eligible beneficiaries.

The Home Secretary urged the chief secretaries to issue directions to the district and all other local authorities concerned, to take necessary measures as advised by Union Health Ministry advisory for prompt and effective management of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, with 2,86,384 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,03,71,500, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The death toll has climbed to 4,91,700 with 573 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases have decreased to 22,02,472 and comprise 5.46 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 93.33 per cent, the ministry said.