Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a high number of fresh Covid-19 cases and together account for 85.91 per cent of the new cases of the coronavirus infection reported in the country in a span of 24 hours, the Union health ministry said on Thursday. A total of 22,854 new Covid-19 cases were registered in the country in the said period.
Eight states — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana — are displaying an upward trajectory in the number of fresh cases.
Maharashtra has reported the highest number of fresh cases at 13,659 (almost 60 per cent of the number of cases reported in the country), followed by Kerala (2,475) and Punjab (1,393), the ministry said.
India currently has 1,89,226 active Covid-19 cases, which account for 1.68 per cent of its total caseload.
According to the health ministry data, Kerala reported the maximum decline in the figure while Maharashtra has shown the maximum increase.
More than 2.56 crore (2,56,85,011) vaccine doses have so far been administered in the country.
The beneficiaries include 71,97,100 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have been administered the first dose, 40,13,249 HCWs who have been given the second dose, 70,54,659 frontline workers (FLWs) who have been given the first dose and 6,37,281 FLWs who have received the second dose.
Besides, 9,67,058 beneficiaries aged above 45 years with specific co-morbidities and 58,15,664 beneficiaries aged above 60 years have also received the first dose of the vaccine.
A total of 126 Covid-19 deaths were reported in the country in the 24-hour period.
Six states account for 82.54 per cent of the new deaths, with Maharashtra accounting for the maximum casualties (54), followed by Punjab (17) and Kerala (14), the health ministry said.
