The Centre will be deploying teams in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, where a huge spike in the number of fresh coronavirus cases has been witnessed, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement. It stated that the teams will lend support to the respective state governments in their efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, while also assisting them with their surveillance, testing and also provide efficient clinical management of the positive cases. 

The Health Ministry also added that the states will be given guidance to effectively manage the challenges in regard to the timely diagnosis and also follow up the cases during the ongoing pandemic crisis. Each of the multi-sectoral teams will comprise an epidemiologist and a public health expert. These high-level central teams will be deployed in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, where a rise in the number of COVID cases has been observed of late. 

High mortality is also being reported in some of these states, the Union Health Ministry added. "The teams will support the states' efforts towards strengthening containment, surveillance, testing and efficient clinical management of the positive cases," it said. Among the four states, Uttar Pradesh has recorded 54,666 active cases, followed by Odisha (27,219), Chhattisgarh (13,520) and Jharkhand which has 11,577 active cases.

In terms of total number of coronavirus cases till date among the four states, Uttar Pradesh has recorded 2,25,632, followed by Odisha (1,00,934), Jharkhand (38,435) and Chhattisgarh has 30,092 cases. Uttar Pradesh is also recording the highest number of casualties between the four states with 3,423 deaths, while Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have reported 482, 410 and 269 deaths respectively.