"A significant situation is emerging as plummeting pandemic is going up. The Prime Minister said that pandemic seems to be more so in Tier II, Tier III cities and closer to rural areas. The earlier phase was in big metro cities," said Dr VK Paul, member (health) of NITI Aayog. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India needs to take quick and decisive steps to stop the emerging second peak of Covid-19 immediately. 

He handed out a five-point plan to fight what is being called the second wave of the Covid-19 infection during a virtual meet with Chief Ministers. 

Dr V K Paul made the remarks while addressing the press. Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, who was also part of weekly press conference, said that 70 districts in 16 states have witnessed an increase of cases by more than 150 per cent from March 1 to March 15. 

These states include Maharashtra, Punjab, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana. "There has been nearly 43 per cent increase in new cases week-on-week and 37 per cent increase in new deaths," Bhushan added. 

The situation is grim in Maharashtra, where over 60 per cent of active cases and 45 per cent new deaths are concentrated. Bhushan said that enough tests are not being done and the positivity rate, percentage of people who test positive of those tested, is concerning. 

On Wednesday, India logged 28,903 cases of Covid-19 and 188 fatalities in the last 24 hours, with five states Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu driving up the daily new cases.