As the four states witnessing a sudden surge in the number of COVID-19 cases and recording high mortalities over the last few days, the Union Health Ministry has decided to rush central teams to Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

As per the government’s statement on Monday, these central teams will assist the state government to strengthen containment, surveillance, testing and efficient clinical management to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The central team will get a first-hand understanding of the challenges and issues being faced by states in their ongoing coronavirus disease containment strategy.

According to the data provided by the Health Ministry, among these four states, Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of active cases pegged at 54,666, followed by Odisha (27,219), Chhattisgarh (13,520) and Jharkhand (11,577).In terms of total COVID-19 cases to date, Uttar Pradesh is at the top with 2,25,632 cases, followed by Odisha (1,00,934), Jharkhand (38,435) and Chhattisgarh (30,092).

Uttar Pradesh has also reported the highest number of deaths at 3,423, while Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have 482, 410 and 269 deaths respectively, as per the Health Ministry.

“The teams will support the state efforts towards strengthening containment, surveillance, testing and efficient clinical management of the positive cases. They shall also guide the state government in effectively managing the challenges related to timely diagnosis and follow up,” it said.

Each of the multi-sectoral teams will comprise an epidemiologist and a public health expert, the Ministry added. India added 78,512 new cases to its COVID-19 tally in the last 24 hours, taking the national caseload past 36-lakh mark, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) on Monday.

With 971 new deaths, the cumulative toll reached 64,469.The coronavirus cases in the country mounted to 36,21,246 including 7,81,975 active cases, 27,74,802 cured/discharged/migrated.