New Delhi, Sep 6 (IANS): The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Sunday said that it has deployed experts to assist Punjab and Chandigarh in coronavirus management.

The high-level teams will assist the state and the Union Territory in strengthening public health measures for containment, surveillance, testing, and efficient clinical management of Covid-19 patients so as to reduce mortality rate.

They will also guide in addressing the challenges related to timely diagnosis and follow-up processes.

Each team consist of a Community Medicine expert from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh and an epidemiologist from the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).

"These teams shall be stationed in Punjab and Chandigarh for 10 days to provide extended guidance in managing Covid-19," the Ministry said in a statement.

Punjab has reported 60,013 coronavirus cases, including 15,731 active cases and 1,739 deaths. The tests per million figure for the state is 37,546 (India's average figure is 34,593.1). At 4.97 per cent, it has lower cumulative positivity.

Chandigarh has reported 2,095 active cases, and total 5,268 cases. Tests per million and cumulative positivity stand at 38,054 and 11.99 per cent respectively.

The Centre is actively supporting the states and UTs that are seeing a sudden surge in the number of coronavirus cases and those reporting high mortality by deputing multi-sectoral Central teams, the Ministry said.

Many such teams have visited several states and UTs in the past months, said the Ministry, adding that the teams interact with the field authorities to get first-hand understanding of the challenges and issues faced by them.

The states and UTs have been advised to proactively undertake comprehensive measures to break the chain of transmission of the infectious disease and lower mortality, so that it eventually dips below 1 per cent, the Ministry added.