The Centre on Friday sent multi-disciplinary teams to Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Manipur as they have reported a steady increase in coronavirus cases over the past few weeks.

The teams, each comprising a clinician and a public health expert, will speak to state officials to understand their difficulties and help to remove any bottlenecks, the health ministry said.

They will also monitor the states’ surveillance efforts, Covid-19 testing, enforcement of Covid-appropriate behaviour, and the availability of hospital beds, ambulances, ventilators and oxygen.

“The Central teams will assess the situation and suggest remedial actions on public health activities to the respective state governments,” the Centre added. “Copy of the report will also be provided to the Union Health Ministry.” The teams will also assess the progress of their vaccination drives.

Follow today’s live updates on the Covid-19 crisis.

India has been fighting the second wave of Covid-19 infections, which at its peak in May saw more than 4 lakh cases and thousands of deaths every day. Several states experienced crippling shortages of oxygen, hospital beds, medical supplies and vaccines during the second wave, leading to citizens taking to social media to ask for help.

The daily cases have now begun to decline. But, the spread of the Delta plus variant of Covid-19 has worried health experts. The strain has been detected in at least 12 states.

Experts have also issued repeated warnings about a third wave of infections hitting the country. However, the third wave of Covid-19 is likely to be less severe than the second, a study conduced by the Indian Council of Medical Research has suggested.

On Friday morning, the country reported 46,617 new coronavirus cases, taking its tally since the pandemic broke out in January 2020 to 3,04,58,251. India’s number of deaths crossed 4 lakh with 853 more fatalities in the last day. The toll stood at 4,00,312.