New Delhi, May 7 (IANS): Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said that the survey of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARI) and Influenza Like Illness (ILI) is one of the most important tools in the fight against COVID-19. He held a video conference with the Health Minister and officials of Uttar Pradesh, where he directed the officials to conduct surveys of SARI and ILI cases in the districts.

Speaking at the video conference, the Minister said, "You have to find SARI and ILI cases in unaffected districts through active surveillance. At least 250 cases of SARI and ILI should be surveyed in every district. SARI and ILI surveys are very important in the fight against COVID-19 and to ensure that unaffected districts remain unaffected, this survey is the only way to ensure and maintain this status." He added that in Uttar Pradesh, only a few districts were doing that survey.

Hailing the efforts of the state in combating the highly infectious coronavirus disease, the Minister said, "8 out of 75 districts are COVID free in UP. 67 districts are affected, of which, 22 districts have less than 5 cases and 11 districts have 5 to 10 cases. He said that Chitrakoot is a newly affected district in the state.

The Health Minister said there are 655 cases in Agra, 292 cases in Kanpur and 205 cases in Saharanpur. "All cases in Saharanpur are due to Tablighi," he said. He added that there is a recent rise of 10 cases per day in Gautam Buddha Nagar in Noida and there are at least 193 cases there. "Lucknow has 231 cases but fortunately most cases are those which came initially and now only 4 to 5 cases per day are reported."

The Minister informed the officials present there that the fatality rate of COVID-19 in India is the lowest in the world -3.3 - and the recovery rate is improving on a daily basis. "We have the capacity to conduct 95,000 tests per day in the country and more than 13 lakh tests have been done so far. Very few percent of people are critical in our country. Only 1.1 percent people are on ventilators, 3.3 percent people need oxygen and 4.8 % people are on ICU beds," said the Minister.

The conference was also attended by the Health Ministers and officials of West Bengal and Odisha.