PMO reviews surge in Covid-19 cases

New Delhi: In the wake of the rising cases of coronavirus in the country, an emergency meeting has been called at the Prime Minister's Office to review the coronavirus situation in the country.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan briefed the government on the emergence of new mutated versions of the virus.

The development comes after the government data showed that there are around 1.47 lakh active coronavirus cases in the country.

The total number of cases reported since the pandemic began in China in December 2019 is now over 1.10 crore, with 1.56 lakh deaths linked to the virus.

Addressing a press conference, Rajesh Bhushan stated that Maharashtra and Kerala continue to be the worst-affected states and among a handful seeing a surge in new cases that has worried the centre.

Maharashtra has reported over 5,200 new cases in 24 hours, while Kerala has detected over 2,200. "There are still 2 states that have 75% active cases -Kerala & Maharashtra.

Kerala has 38% of the total active cases of the country while Maharashtra has 37% of the total active cases. Karnataka has 4% & Tamil Nadu has 2.78% active cases," Rajesh Bhushan added.

He also added that over 1.17 crore vaccine doses have been administered across the country — 1.04 crore 1st doses & 12.61 lakh 2nd doses. "Active cases continue to be less than 1.50 lakh.

If you look at average of deaths taking place daily, it was 92 last week- trend of less than 100 deaths," he added. However, the cumulative positivity rate is 5.19%. "This is declining continuously. Positivity rate – cumulative as well as weekly & daily – is declining across the country," he stated.