6 states continue to report surge in fresh COVID-19 cases

As many as six states including Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat - have shown a surge in new cases in the last 24 hours, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday. According to the Ministry, 86.37 per cent of the new cases are from these six states. As many as 16,752 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours.

Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 8,623. It is followed by Kerala with 3,792 while Punjab reported 593 new cases. Tamil Nadu continues to report 486 cases, Karnataka reported 523, while Gujarat reported 451 new cases.

The Centre has been engaging with the states and UTs exhibiting a higher caseload of active cases and those reporting a spike in the daily new COVID-19 cases. The Cabinet Secretary reiterated that states need to maintain a continued rigorous vigil in terms of containing the spread and not squander away the gains of the collective hard work of the last year.

"They were advised not to lower their guard, enforce COVID appropriate behaviour and deal firmly with violations. It was strongly underlined that they need to follow effective surveillance strategies in respect of potential super spreading events," the Ministry said. The Centre has also deputed high-level multi-disciplinary teams to Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir to ascertain reasons for the surge and coordinate with the State Health Departments in COVID-19 control and containment measures.

84.96 per cent of the new deaths in the six states- Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. India reported 113 deaths in the last 24 hours. Moreover, a total of 1.07 cr people has recovered so far. 11,718 patients have recovered and got discharged in the last 24 hours, while 84.19 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in six states.

According to the Health Ministry, India is all set to start the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination on March 1, 2021, for those who are over 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions. To ramp up the COVID-19 vaccination capacity, around 10,000 private hospitals under Ayushman Bharat PMJAY and more than 600 private hospitals under the Central Government Health Scheme will be utilised.

Other private hospitals empanelled under State Govts Health Insurance Scheme can also participate as COVID-19 Vaccination Centres (CVCs).