Steep rise in COVID-19 cases in eight states

According to the Union Health Ministry, eight states saw a sharp increase in daily new COVID-19 cases and accounted for 81.42 percent of the infections reported on Saturday. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh are the eight states.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in India has also increased to 6,58,909, accounting for 5.32 percent of total infections. There has been a net increase of 44,213 active cases in a single day.

Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Bengaluru Urban, Aurangabad, Delhi, Ahmednagar, and Nanded account for half of the country’s total active caseload.

Maharashtra has seen the greatest increase in the number of active cases in the last two months, with a nine-fold increase. Punjab has reported the highest percentage increase in active cases.

According to data from the Union Health Ministry on Saturday, India recorded 89,129 new COVID-19 cases in a single day, the highest daily increase in nearly six and a half months, bringing the total number of infections in the country to more than 1.23 crore. The death toll rose to 1,64,110 with 714 more deaths in a single day, the highest since October 21. Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired a high-level review meeting on Friday with chief secretaries, directors general of police and health secretaries of all states, with a focus on 11 states and Union Territories that have been reporting a very high rise in daily cases and fatality because of COVID-19 in the last two weeks.

These states and UTs “of grave concern” were advised to take up immediate and effective measures to ensure containment of active cases and daily deaths through enh ..