Covid: Two states, Maharashtra and Punjab, are of grave concern, says govt

9 of the top 10 districts where maximum number of active cases are concentrated are in Maharashtra, says a Health Ministry official

In the wake of a surge in coronavirus cases, two states are of grave concern, said a health ministry official on Wednesday. 

"Two states are of grave concern, that have shown a recent surge in cases - Maharashtra, that reported more than 28,000 cases in the last 24 hours and Punjab, that is reporting huge number of cases in proportion to its population," Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan at a media briefing in New Delhi. 

Besides them, Gujarat and MP are of concern too. Gujarat has been reporting around 1,700 cases on a daily basis and Madhya Pradesh has been witnessing around 1,500 cases a day. Most cases in Gujarat are concentrated in Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar, while those in MP are concentrated in Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Ujjain and Betul.

The top 10 districts where maximum number of active cases are concentrated are in Pune, Nagpur, Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad, Bengaluru Urban, Nanded, Jalgaon and Akola. Nine districts from Maharashtra and one from Karnataka, Bhushan added. 

771 cases of coronavirus variants have been detected across 18 states - 736 of UK variant, 34 of South African variant and 1 of Brazilian variant, said National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director Dr SK Singh.

No linkage yet to show that recent surge in Covid-19 cases is due to new variants detected abroad and about 88% of all Covid-19 deaths in India are in age group of 45 years and above, said a ministry official.

India reported 47,262 new COVID-19 cases, 23,907 recoveries and 275 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday.

With this, the total cases in the country mounted to 1,17,34,058 including 3,68,457 active cases and 1,12,05,160 recoveries. The death toll has gone up to 1,60,441.

With 2,31,942 active coronavirus cases, Maharashtra continues to remain the most affected state. 22,47,495 recovered from the disease while 53,589 people died in the state.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), as many as 10,25,628 samples were tested on March 23. A total of 23,64,38,861 samples had been tested up to March 23.

A total of 5,08,41,286 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far.

Of total vaccine doses administered, 2,64,52,366 have been given to those aged above 60 and those aged 45-60 years with comorbidities, the ministry said.