India has reported 18,599 new COVID-19 cases, 14,278 recoveries, and 97 deaths in the last 24 hours, said a release issued by the Health Ministry on Monday.
The country currently has 1,88,747 active cases with the cumulative death toll of 1,57,853, total cases 1,12,29,398 and total recoveries at 1,08,82,798.
Eight States — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana and Gujarat — were displaying an upward trajectory in new daily cases, said the Ministry.
It added that Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu cumulatively accounted for 86.25% of the new cases reported in the past 24 hours. Maharashtra reported the highest daily new cases at 11,141, followed by Kerala with 2,100 while Punjab 1,043.
The Ministry said that the Centre was regularly holding high-level review meetings with the States and Union Territories (UTs) showing a surge in new daily cases. The Health Secretary is also holding weekly review meetings as part of the Centre’s efforts to continuously engage with the States and UTs reporting higher caseload of active cases and those showing rise in new daily cases.
Recently, the Centre rushed high-level public health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab to assist in control and containment measures in view of the recent spike in cases in these States.
The Central government has 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 cumulative tests conducted in the country have surpassed 22 crores (22,19,68,271). The national cumulative positivity rate currently stands at 5.06%.
Eight States/UTs — Maharashtra, Kerala, Chandigarh, Goa, Punjab, Sikkim, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh — have a weekly positivity rate more than the national average (2.29%). Maharashtra has the highest weekly positivity rate with 11.13%.
Giving out details of the vaccination done till 7 a.m. on Monday, the Ministry said that more than 2.09 crore (2,09,89,010) vaccine doses had been administered through 3,76,633 sessions, as per the provisional report.
These include 69,85,911 healthcare workers (HCWs) (1st dose), 35,47,548 HCWs (2nd dose), 66,09,537 frontline line workers (FLWs) (1st dose) and 2,13,559 FLWs (2nd dose), 4,80,661 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities (1st dose) and 31,51,794 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years.
India has also reported 97 deaths in the last 24 hours with seven States accounting for 87.63% of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties 38, Punjab followed with 17 and Kerala reported 13 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Eighteen States/UTs, including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, have not reported any COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours.