Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla in a letter last week to the chief secretaries of all states said that over the last 24 months, significant capacities have been developed for various aspects of management of the pandemic, such as diagnostics, surveillance, contact tracing, treatment, vaccination, hospital infrastructure.

Citing a high level of public awareness regarding Covid-appropriate behaviour, Bhalla said, the states and Union Territories have also developed their capacities and systems and implemented their detailed specific plans for managing the pandemic.

“After taking into consideration the overall improvement in the situation and preparedness of the Government to deal with the pandemic, National Disaster Management Authority has taken a decision that there may not be any further need to invoke the provisions of the DM Act for COVID containment measures,” he said.

The Central government had on March 24, 2020, issued for the first time orders and guidelines under the Disaster Management Act, (DM Act) 2005 for the containment of Covid-19 in the country and these have been modified on various occasions.

What Next?

Bhalla said, after the expiry of the existing order on March 31, no further order will be issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

However, advisories issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Covid containment measures will continue to guide the overall national response to the pandemic, he said. The guidelines include the use of face masks and hand hygiene.

The MHA has maintained that in view of the nature of the disease, citizens still need to remain watchful of the situation. The Centre has urged states and UTs to prompt and proactive action at the local level in situation of surge in cases under directions by the Health Ministry. Standard Operating Measures and advisories that have been or are being issued by the Ministry of Health for containment measures, vaccination will be also be required to follow.

The Union Home Secretary had said, “I would, therefore, advise all the States and UTs to consider appropriately discontinuing issue of orders and guidelines under the DM Act, 2005 for COVID containment measures.”

Meanwhile, with 1,225 new coronavirus infections reported in a day, India’s Covid tally rose to 4,30,24,440, while the active cases dipped to 14,307, the Union health ministry said. The death toll climbed to 5,21,129 with 28 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. The active cases comprise 0.03 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate remained at 98.76 per cent, the ministry said.

A reduction of 397 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The country’s daily Covid positivity rate was recorded at 0.20 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 0.23 per cent. India’s COVID-19 tally had surpassed the three-crore mark on June 23 last year.