Around 14,000 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, 86 per cent of them from five states, the Union Health Ministry has said.
According to the ministry’s data, at 6,971, Maharashtra reported the highest number of cases, followed by Kerala (4,070), Tamil Nadu (452), Karnataka (413), and Punjab (348).
Maharashtra, Kerala, and Punjab are among the five states termed “concern states” by the Centre due surge in number of cases reported in the last one week. The other two in the list are Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
According to official data, the country reported 83 deaths in the last 24 hours, with 78.31 per cent of these reported from five states: Maharastra (35), Kerala (15), Punjab (6), Chhattisgarh (5), and MP (4).
According to the data, the country’s active caseload as on Monday stood at 1,50,055 cases, which is 1.36 per cent of the total positive cases. The Health Ministry stated that seven states or UTs have not reported any new cases in last 24 hours.
On Sunday, the Centre had written to five states reporting a surge in cases to implement a multi-pronged strategy to curb the spread of Covid-19. While India’s cumulative positivity rate stood at 5.20 per cent on Sunday, the Health Ministry said that the country’s national average weekly positivity rate was 1.79 per cent.
Maharashtra had reported the highest weekly positivity rate (8.1 per cent), followed by Kerala (7.9 per cent). The ministry had also said that the weekly positivity in Maharashtra had increased from 4.7 per cent to 8.1 per cent.
The Centre has told the five states to improve testing by increasing the proportion of RT-PCR tests; to ensure that all negative Rapid Antigen Test results are mandatorily followed by an RT-PCR test; enforce strict surveillance as well as stringent containment in districts, including areas emerging as cluster zones; and to monitor mutant strains through testing and genome sequencing.
2021-02-22 12:13:30
