COVID-19: Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, TN, Gujarat, Karnataka continue to see upsurge in new cases
New Delhi: Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka continue to report a surge in fresh COVID-19 cases and they account for 85.95 per cent of the cases reported in a span of 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
The ministry said that 14,989 new cases were registered in a span of 24 hours. Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 7,863. It is followed by Kerala with 2,938, while Punjab reported 729 new cases.
"Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Karnataka have shown the maximum increase in new cases on a week on week basis," the ministry said.
Maharashtra alone accounted for a weekly increase of 16,012 cases. In percentage terms, Punjab reported a weekly increase of 71.5 per cent (1,783 cases).
The Centre is continuously engaging with the states and union territories reporting higher caseload of active cases and those reporting a spike in the daily new COVID-19 cases, the ministry underlined.
States and UTs have been advised to maintain a continued rigorous vigil for containing the spread of COVID-19 so that the gains of collective efforts are not squandered away, the ministry said.
Need for effective testing, comprehensive tracking, prompt isolation of positive cases and quick quarantine of close contacts are strongly emphasised.
The central government has also rushed high-level teams to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Jammu and Kashmir to support them in their fight against the recent spike in COVID-19 cases. The three-member teams are headed by joint secretary-level officers in the Health Ministry.
They will ascertain reasons for the surge and coordinate with the state health departments in COVID-19 control and containment measures.
India's total active caseload has reached 1,70,126 on Wednesday. India's present active caseload now stands at 1.53 per cent of the total positive cases.
Showing the change in active cases for states/UTs in a day, the ministry said while Kerala, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Jammu and Kashmir show a reduction in the active cases in a span of 24 hours, Maharashtra, Punjab, Delhi, Karnataka and Gujarat display a rise in the active cases during the same period.
Eight States -- Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana -- are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases, the ministry highlighted.
The 2nd dose of COVID19 vaccination started on February 13 for those beneficiaries who have completed 28 days after receipt of the first dose. Vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started on February 2.
The next phase of Covid-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for those who are over 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.
More than 1.56 crore (1,56,20,749) vaccine doses have been administered through 3,12,188 sessions, according to provisional report till Wednesday 7 am.
These include 67,42,187 healthcare workers (1st dose), 27,13,144 HCWs (2nd dose), 55,70,230 FLWs (1st dose) and 834 FLWs (2nd dose), 71,896 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities (1st dose) and 5,22,458 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years.
As on Day-46 of the vaccination drive (March 2), total 7,68,730 vaccine doses were given. Out of which, 6,52,501 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 10,527 sessions for 1st dose (HCWs and FLWs) and 1,16,229 HCWs and FLWs received 2nd dose of vaccine.
More than 1.08 crore people have recovered from the disease so far. As many as 13,123 patients have recovered and got discharged in the last 24 hours.
Of the new recovered cases, 86.58 per cent are concentrated in six states.
Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single-day recoveries with 6,332 newly recovered cases. As many as 3,512 people recovered in Kerala in the past 24 hours, followed by 473 in Tamil Nadu.
Ninety-eight deaths were reported in a span of 24 hours.
Four states account for 88.78 per cent of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (54). Kerala follows with 16 daily deaths and Punjab reported 10 deaths in a span of 24 hours.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
