Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a surge in COVID-19 daily cases, accounting for 78.41 per cent of the new cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. A total of 26,291 new cases were registered in a day. Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 16,620 (accounting for 63.21 per cent of the daily new cases). It is followed by Kerala with 1,792 while Punjab reported 1,492 new cases.
"A rising trajectory of daily new cases is visible in eight states. These are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana," the ministry said.
Kerala has a consistently declining trend over the last one month, it stated.
India's total COVID-19 active caseload has reached 2,19,262 comprising 1.93 per cent of the total infections.
Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab, cumulatively account for 77 per cent of India's total active cases.
Maharashtra alone accounts for more than 58 per cent of the total active cases in the country.
India is, meanwhile, fast approaching total vaccination coverage of 3 crore.
The ministry said 2,99,08,038 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered through 5,13,065 sessions, as per the provisional report till Monday 7 am.
These include 73,55,755 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have been administered 1st dose, 43,05,118 HCWs who have been given the 2nd dose), 73,40,423 frontline workers (FLWs) who have taken the 1st dose and 11,50,535 FLWs who have received the 2nd dose.
Besides, 14,64,014 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities and 82,92,193 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years have been administered the 1st dose.
As on day-58 of the vaccination drive (14th March), published,40,880 vaccine doses were given.
"Being a Sunday, most states and UTs did not schedule vaccination sessions yesterday," the ministry said.
Of the total, published,20,885 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 2,211 sessions for 1st dose and 19,995 HCWs and FLWs received 2nd dose of vaccine.
India's cumulative recoveries stand at 1,10,07,352 with 17,455 recoveries were registered in a span of 24 hours. The ministry said 84.10 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 6 states.
Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single day recoveries with 8,861 newly recovered cases.A total of 118 deaths were reported in a span of 24 hours.
Six states account for 82.20 per cent of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (50). Punjab follows with 20 daily deaths and Kerala reported 15 deaths in a span of 24 hours.
Sixteen states and UTs have not reported any COVID-19 deaths in a span of 24 hours. These are Assam, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Jharkhand, Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Ladakh (UT), Manipur, Daman and Diu & Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Andman and Nicobar Islands and Arunachal Pradesh.