New Delhi, April 8 : : The on Health Ministry on Friday alerted five states and on Territories over the increase in Covid-19 cases in the last week and asked them to maintain a strict watch and take pre-emptive action if required. on Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra and Mizoram, apprising them that they were reporting a higher number of daily Covid-19 cases, as compared to other states. Bhushan advised the state authorities to continue monitoring the spread of Novel Coronavirus infection and asked them to undertake pre-emptive action if required. “lt is essential that the state must maintain a strict watch and take pre-emptive action if required in any areas of concern to control any emerging spread of infection. Testing and surveillance remain important to track the virus, its spread & evolution,” the letter read. He also stressed the need for the states to follow the five-fold strategy — Test-Track-Treat-Vaccination and Adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour. According to the letter, Kerala has seen an increase in positivity rate in the last week from 13.45 per cent to 15.53 per cent and accounted for 31.8 per cent of the cumulative cases over the past week, ending April 8. Maharashtra also saw its positivity rate rise from 0.39 per cent to 0.43 per cent in the past week, while Mizoram’s positivity rate jumped from 4.38 per cent to 16.48 per cent in the past week. Haryana’s positivity rate in the last week also jumped from 0.51 per cent to 1.06 per cent, while the positivity rate in the national capital spiked from 0.51 per cent to 1.25 per cent in the last week. ASH RJ