Srinagar, Feb 26: The Covid-19 positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir has once again started to surge from the past few days.

Officials said that on 9 February the active cases of Covid-19 in Jammu and Kashmir were below 600 while in the last 15 days, the cases have surged to over 800.

The centre has taken notice of the surge has deputed a high-level multi-disciplinary team to ascertain the reasons for the spike.

A top health official said that the Centre has deputed high-level multi-disciplinary teams to 10 states for supporting them in public health measures for targeted COVID response and management.

“The centre has taken up the issue that if J&K is witnessing a rise in Covid cases, then why there is a decrease in the proportion of RT-PCR tests,” officials said.

Officials said that three-member multi-disciplinary teams headed by Joint Secretary, level officers in the Health Ministry have been rushed to the states including Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, where they will work closely with the state and local administration in order to ascertain reasons for a recent surge in the number of COVID-19 cases.

Officials also said that the Centre has also written to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which have been witnessing a rise in daily COVID cases, along with decreasing proportion of RT-PCR tests.

He further added that Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has exhorted the J&K UT administration should work along with other 10 states to focus on undertaking aggressive measures to break the chain of transmission and to ensure amplification of RT-PCR tests.

He further added that these States/UTs have been advised to increase testing in a focused manner in the affected districts with the appropriate split of RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Tests.

Moreover, the Centre has reminded the State and Union Territories that any laxity in implementing stringent measures to curb the spread, especially in view of new strains of virus observed in certain countries, could compound the situation.

The Union Health Secretary has separately requested the chief secretaries of 10 states and UTs to provide time to the high-level central teams to debrief the respective chief secretaries at the conclusion of their visits. kno