Published On : Mon, Mar 8th, 2021

86.25% new COVID cases in 6 states: Govt

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Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are the six states that cumulatively account for 86.25 per cent of the new coronavirus cases reported in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Monday. Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 11,141, followed by Kerala with 2,100 and Punjab with 1,043 new infections, the ministry said.

The Centre is regularly holding high-level review meetings with the states and Union territories showing a surge in new daily cases and the health secretary is also holding weekly review meetings, it said.

“Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have been reporting a surge in the COVID daily new cases. They cumulatively account for 86.25 per cent of the new cases reported in the past 24 hours,” the ministry said in a statement. The Centre has recently rushed high-level public health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab to assist in COVID-19 control and containment measures in view of the recent spike in cases, it added.

The central government said it had already deputed high-level teams to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Jammu and Kashmir to support them in their fight against the recent spike in COVID-19 cases.

“These teams interact with the state/UT authorities and get a firsthand understanding of the challenges and issues being faced by them so as to strengthen their ongoing activities and remove bottlenecks, if any,” the ministry said.

It said eight states and Union territories — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana — were displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases. They have a weekly positivity rate more than the national average of 2.29 per cent.

Maharashtra has the highest weekly positivity rate with 11.13 per cent, the government said. The number of active cases in the country reached 1,88,747 on Monday and it is 1.68 per cent of the total infections.