High-level central teams have been deputed to Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, which have been reporting a surge in COVID-19 cases, to support them in management of the disease. The Union Health Ministry on Friday said these teams will support the state towards strengthening containment, surveillance, testing, infection prevention and control measures, and efficient clinical management of the positive cases. "The Central teams shall also guide in effectively managing the challenges related to timely diagnosis and follow up," it said. Each team comprises a joint secretary (nodal officer for the respective state), one public health expert to look after the public health aspects, one clinician to look after infection prevention practices and clinical management protocol being followed by the state.

Kerala so far has reported 3,17,929 Coronavirus infections which form 4.3 per cent of the total cases, the ministry said. The cases per million stand at 8,906. The recoveries have surged to 2,22,231 accounting for a recovery rate of 69.90 per cent. There are 94,609 active cases, the ministry said. Total deaths in the state are 1,089 with a case fatality rate of 0.34 per cent and deaths per million of 31. The tests per million of Kerala stand at 53,518 and the positivity rate is 16.6 per cent, the ministry said. Karnataka has reported 7,43,848 cases of Coronavirus infection accounting for 10.1 per cent of the national figure. It has 11,010 cases per million population.