NEW DELHI: Ramping up measures to effectively implement the containment strategy, the Centre on Thursday despatched 10 multi-disciplinary teams to nine states to coordinate the fight against Covid-19.The teams will work closely with state governments and district administrations to support hospital preparedness, ventilator management and containment measures, health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said.These teams have been sent to Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka , Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and UP.The group of ministers (GoM) headed by health minister Harsh Vardhan met on Thursday to evaluate the work done so far, challenges ahead and preparation to overcome them.The GoM also deliberated on the progress so far on dedicated Covid hospitals and containment measures.Besides, Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology-Hyderabad and Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology-New Delhi have started working together on the genome sequencing of novel coronavirus to understand the evolution of the virus.The Centre also announced a Rs 15,000 crore ‘India Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package’, while Odisha became the first state to extend the lockdown further till April 30 and also announced closure of schools till June 17.Several other states including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh said they will take a final decision in the coming days on whether to extend the 21-day nationwide lockdown or not.Fresh cases were reported from Gujarat, Bihar, Odisha, Karnataka, Jharkhand , Chhattisgarh, among other places, while cases continued to increase in Maharashtra.