New Delhi: Seven states of Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh recorded an upsurge in the daily new cases of Coronavirus in the past 24 hours, accounting for 90% of the new cases, with Maharashtra topping at 8,807 cases and 80 deaths.
Kerala came second with 4,106 cases and 17 deaths in 24 hours, followed by Punjab 558 cases and 7 deaths, Tamil Nadu 463 cases and 8 deaths, Gujarat 380 cases, Madhya Pradesh 344 cases and Karnataka 334. The cumulative death toll of the country stood at 1,56,705, which is 1.42% of total positive cases, with 138 fatalities in 24 hours.
The Cabinet Secretary on Thursday scheduled a review with these seven states while the Centre has rushed multi-disciplinary high level teams to 10 states/Union Territories witnessing spike in the cases to ascertain reasons for the surge and coordinate with the state health departments in containment steps.. These are: Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Punjab
Positive side of the picture was a continuous decline in the cumulative positive rate in the country, which stood at 5.17% on Thursday. It were 8.60% on August 25, declining month after month and touching 5.55% on January 25. India's cumulative vaccination coverage has crossed 1.26 crore that included both first and second doses. As many as 21.38 crore persons have undergone tests, 7.93 lakh of them in the last 24 hours.
India's active caseload again shot up to 1,51,708, comprising 1.37% of 11.05 crore positive cases. New cases of the dreaded virus detected in the past 24 hours stood at 16,738, while active cases went up by 4801. The daily recoveries were low compared to the new detections as they stood at 11,799. The total recoveries have been 1.07 crore, which is 97.21% of total infections.
At the global level, 25.1 lakh persons have died so far as against 11.31 crore infected with the disease, with the active cases still accounting for 2.19 crore as against 8.88 crore recoveries. The United States reported the highest 5.18 lakh deaths out of 2.90 crore infected. India comes second in terms of the cases, though Brazil placed at third position has the higher death toll of 2.5 lakh.
Jaipur: With Covid-19 cases again showing a rise in several states, the Rajasthan govt on Thursday put in place travel curbs. Now people travelling from Maharashtra and Kerala to Rajasthan will have to carry their RT-PCR negative report with them.
In view of the rising Covid-19 cases, chief minister Ashok Gehlot had a review meeting with officials. The CM reviewed the coronavirus situation in the state and directed that health protocols be strictly implemented.
With the new strains of the coronavirus being reported in Kerala and Maharashtra, it was decided in the meeting that people from these two states travelling to Rajasthan will have to carry their negative RT-PCR reports. The RT-PCR reports will be checked by officials at airports and railway stations. The govt will issue SOPs in this regard within a day, health department officials said.
The Delhi government too has imposed similar restrictions on travellers from Maharastra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh to the national capital. Maharashtra has reported over 8000 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday while Kerala reported over 4,000 new cases.
Gehlot also reviewed the vaccination campaign in the state. The government will launch an awareness campaign regarding vaccination from March so that the pace of vaccination can pick up. Rajasthan has covered 66.5 percent of registered health care workers and frontline workers in its vaccination drive, placing it at second spot in the country.
The CM said people should not fear vaccination and come forward to get vaccinated as the vaccines are totally safe.
Rajasthan has seen a fall in Covid-19 cases in February. In the last 24 days, 2214 new cases have been reported in the state while 19 deaths have been recorded. In January, a total of 8600 new cases were reported and 66 deaths were recorded in the state.
A couple of days back, Gehlot had asked the people in the state to observe utmost caution. He said one year back, coronavirus cases had started rising in the country. He said the new strains have again led to a rise in cases and people should be careful and follow Covid protocols and get themselves tested in case they observe any symptoms.
EOM
