The states of Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have become the epicentre of the coronavirus in the country as they continue to contribute a lion’s share of new cases in the country even as other states have reduced fresh Covid-19 cases in the second wave.
While Maharashtra has remained one of the worst affected states right from the beginning of the pandemic, Kerala has now become the state with the highest number of fresh infections in the country.
As many as 12,617 new Covid-19 were reported in Kerala in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra has recorded 8,470 cases in the last 24 hours to take the total tally to nearly 60 lakhs Covid-19 cases in the state.
Tamil Nadu is the third in line in terms of fresh cases recorded as the southern state has recorded around 6,895 states. The three states – Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu account for nearly 56 per cent of the total cases that were recorded in the country. On Tuesday, India recorded 50,848 new COVID-19 cases and 1,358 deaths, out of which the three states contributed to nearly 28,000 cases and 817 deaths.
The active cases have decreased by 19,327 over the last 24 hours to settle at 6,43,194. In the last 24 hours, 68,817 patients recovered from the infection, taking the total recoveries to 2.89 crores. The daily recoveries have been outnumbering daily new cases for 40 consecutive days now.
However, the major concern is that the three states continue to burden the country’s overall fight against the pandemic as they continue to record a fresh number of cases. In addition, the latest delta-plus variant has been reported in all these high-burden states.
There are 21 cases of delta-plus variant reported in Maharashtra, six in Madhya Pradesh, three in Kerala, three in Tamil Nadu, two in Karnataka and one each in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu.
Maharashtra:
Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded 8,473 fresh cases of the coronavirus disease, 2,000 more than it had recorded on Monday. With this, the overall number of Covid-19 cases in the state went up to 59,87,521 cases. As many as 88,620 people have lost their lives in the state due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the health experts and officials in Maharashtra have blamed high population density, mobility and mass flouting of Covid norms for the monumental spread of infection.
The biggest worry for Maharashtra is that the latest spread of infection has been reported from rural hinterlands.
Kerala:
Kerala, which has remained an epicentre of the infection since the advent of the pandemic, has been recording the highest numbers of Covid-19 cases in the country. Kerala recorded 12,617 new Covid cases on Tuesday, nearly two thousand cases more than it had reported on Monday.
With 141 new fatalities, the death toll mounted to 12,295. Test positivity rate also remains worryingly high, at 10.72. With this, the number of active cases touched 1,00,437 in the state. 27,16,284 people have recovered from the disease so far.
Kerala, which had struggled to fight the pandemic in the first wave, has yet again failed to manage the crisis effectively. The lack of robust health infrastructure and apathy by the state government is said to be the reason behind the surge in the cases in the state.
Due to the increase in infections, Kerala’s health infrastructure has been facing massive pressure as it is already overstretched. The state government is finding it tough to provide treatment to Covid-19 patients during the second wave of the pandemic in the country.
Tamil Nadu:
Tamil Nadu has also reported 6,895 new cases, taking the total tally to 24,36,819 cases in the state. More than 190 people lost their lives in the last 24 hours, and the total death toll in the state due to Covid-19 is 31,850.
The state saw 13,156 recoveries on Tuesday, bringing the active caseload down to 56,866.
Tamil Nadu had recorded its peak in the second wave at 36,184 cases on May 21 and had reported a decline since then. However, the latest surge has caused a worry to the authorities in the state.
Amidst the rising number of cases, the Modi government has achieved a historic milestone on June 21 by vaccinating nearly 88.09 lakh vaccine doses in a span of 24 hours. Even though the number dipped to around 53.4 lakh on Tuesday, the government intends to complete the vaccination drive by the end of this year. Currently, India is administering three vaccines – Russian-made Sputnik V, and the Indian made Covaxin and Covishield.