Patna, Jul 19 (PTI) A central team, which reached here on Sunday to assess the COVID-19 situation in Bihar, asked the state's health department to focus on tracking and testing to combat the deadly virus, an official said.

The state has witnessed a spike in coronavirus cases with the number of total positive cases jumping to 26,379 on July 19 from 10,075 infections on July 1.

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The three-member team sent by the Union health ministry is being led by Luv Agarwal, who is a joint secretary in the ministry.

The director of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr S K Singh, and Associate Professor of Medicine, AIIMS, New Delhi, Dr Neeraj Nishchal are also part of the team.

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The members of the team held a meeting with health department principal secretary Uday Singh Kumawat, health secretary Lokesh Kumar Singh and other senior officials to review the COVID-19 situation in Bihar.

The team's members also asked the authorities of the health department not to relax norms for home isolation and quarantine, the official said. The visiting team said that the Centre will extend all possible help to the state government in dealing with the pandemic. It also said that the central government would make available specialists for Bihar, if needed.

Oxygen cylinders, ventilators, N-95 masks have already been provided to the state. The Centre would send medical supplies if the state government sends a requisition in this regard, a member of the team said.

The central team also visited containment zones and dedicated COVID-19 hospital in the state capital before leaving for Gaya for reviewing the situation there.

The team will return to the national capital on Monday evening.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)