The Centre on Saturday asked the Assam and West Bengal governments to enforce Covid-appropriate behaviour in a strict manner as the two states recorded a weekly rise of 41% in cases of the disease between October 20 and October 26, PTI reported.

In a letter to the chief secretaries of the two states, Union Health Ministry Additional Secretary Arti Ahuja flagged early signs of a rise in positive cases over the last four weeks till October 25.

In her letter to Assam, Ahuja pointed out that the positivity rate of Covid-19 cases in the state has gone up from 1.89% in the week between September 28 and October 4 to 2.22% in the week of October 19 to October 25, PTI reported.

The health ministry official added that there has been a dip in the number of tests conducted during this period. Barpeta and Kamrup Metro have been identified as districts of high concern in terms of the number of positive Covid-19 cases and the weekly positivity rate.

In West Bengal, the Union health ministry has flagged that Kolkata and Howrah districts have been recording a higher incidence of Covid-19 cases.

The positivity rate in West Bengal has risen from 1.93% in the week of September 28-October 4 to 2.39% during October 19-25, Ahuja said in her letter.

On October 22, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had also written to West Bengal expressing concern over the rise in Covid-19 cases in Kolkata, following Durga Puja celebrations earlier this month.

In her letter on Saturday, Ahuja urged the Assam and West Bengal governments to ensure proper implementation of containment zones, conduct door-to-door search for Covid-19 cases and trace the contacts of those who are hospitalised or are under home isolation.

There should be a district and facility-wise analysis of deaths, which will include a review of number of fatalities that take place within 24 and 72 hours of admission to hospitals, the letter said, according to PTI.

The Centre also asked the two states to ramp up testing and aim for 100% coverage of first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine for all adults.