DAILY CASES SHOOTING UP IN 7 STATES

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 multidisciplinary 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.