Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh together account for 80.63% of India’s daily new cases. In all, 39,726 new daily cases were reported in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra continues to report the highest number of fresh cases at 25,833, amounting to 65% of the country’s daily cases. It is followed by Punjab at 2,369 and Kerala at 1,899.
According to the union Health Ministry, three states, including Maharashtra (61.08%), Kerala (9.39%) and Punjab (5.30%) account for 76.48% of the total active cases in the country. India’s total active caseload stands at 2.71 lakh (2,71,282) today.
The Health Ministry has reiterated that states and union territories should improve testing in districts reporting a reduction in testing and increase the overall share of RT-PCR tests conducted, especially in districts dependent on high levels of antigen testing in line with the ‘test, track and treat’ strategy of the government.
Further, states and UTs have been told to trace a minimum of 20 close contacts per positive case (in the first 72 hours). They have urged to isolate and ensure early treatment of the serious cases as per the clinical protocol. They have also been directed to focus on surveillance and stringent containment of those areas in selected districts that are seeing clusters of cases and focus on clinical management in districts reporting higher deaths. It has been advised that they should also follow up on sending samples for genome testing to track virus variants of concern.
States and UTs have been asked to limit the gathering in public places and promote COVID-19-appropriate behaviour through communication and enforcement and accelerate the vaccination drive for priority population groups in districts reporting higher cases. Accelerating the pace of vaccination has also been stressed upon.
