The Union health ministry on Friday flagged increases in Covid-19 test positivity rates in Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra and Mizoram and urged the states to enhance surveillance for clusters of infections and regularly send samples for genome surveillance.

“It is essential that the state must maintain a strict watch and take pre-emptive action if required in any areas of concern to control any emerging spread of infection,” health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in notes sent to each state, expressing concern over rising test positivity over the past week.

The test positivity rate — the proportion of Covid-19 positive cases among the total number screened — is a measure of the size of the infection. The value needs to be as low as possible and any value above 5 per cent warrants public health measures.

Over the past week, test positivity rates have increased from 0.51 to 1.25 per cent in Delhi, 0.51 to 1.06 per cent in Haryana, 13 to 15 per cent in Kerala, 14 to 16 per cent in Mizoram, and 0.39 to 0.43 per cent in Maharashtra.

Health experts said the increase was not surprising as it had coincided with the further ease of restrictions, including the elimination of penalties for breaching standard Covid-19 precautions such as wearing masks, over the past week.

Bhushan has asked the states to look out for any clusters of Covid-19 cases and adopt containment efforts to curb the spread of the infection, monitor all cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome and routinely send positive samples for genome sequencing.

Medical experts say continued genome surveillance coupled with efforts to link any observed unusual patterns of the epidemic or disease severity will be critical for early detection of new variants. India’s count of daily new infections has increased over the past three days — from 795 on April 4 to 1,109 on April 7.

While increases in daily infection counts would be potentially worrying, the experts say, health authorities would need to maintain a close watch on the Covid-19 hospitalisation rates. Central guidelines require district authorities to impose restrictions, including local lockdowns, if oxygen-bed occupancy rises beyond 40 per cent.

Claims scrutiny

The Centre has sent health teams to Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra for random scrutiny of 5 per cent of claims for ex-gratia compensation linked to Covid-19 deaths in these states.

The teams will scrutinise at random 5 per cent of the claims received and ascertain the process followed for the payment of the ex-gratia, and examine the details of cases that were approved or rejected by the local authorities.

The Union health ministry said the teams had been sent to the states “in pursuance” of the Supreme Court’s March 24 order. In the light of the order, the ministry said, it is emphasised that making a false claim or submitting a false certificate to claim ex-gratia would be punishable.

The Supreme Court had last October approved Rs 50,000 ex-gratia for the families of people who had died of Covid-19.