New Covid-19 cases remained below the 50,000 mark for the second day on Monday, but the fact that 10 States continue to contribute 79 per cent of the new infection remains a cause of concern.
National Capital Delhi topped the list, also its highest tally so far, with 7,745 new cases overtaking Maharashtra (5,585) and Kerala (5,440) in the process.
Worried at the rise in cases, particularly in some districts, the Centre on Monday asked the States to increase testing and improve medical facilities to curb deaths and cases.
Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister, held a meeting to review Covid-19 situation in States, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Haryana and Kerala. He asked the officials to focus on test, detect and treatment strategy to combat the disease.
According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported 45,903 new cases of the novel coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours. The caseload in the country now stands at 85,53,657. With 490 new deaths, the death toll in the country mounted to 1,26,611. There are a total of 5,09,673 active cases after a decrease of 2,992 cases in the last 24 hours. A total of 79,17,373 have cured from the disease, while 48,405 people have been discharged in the last 24 hours, said the Ministry.
It said, the trend of recoveries outnumbering new cases has continued for the 37th Day with 48,405 cases recovering in the last 24 hours.
This trend has continued to shrink the active caseload of India which is presently 5.09 lakh. With a manageable contribution of 5.95 per cent of India’s total positive cases, India’s active caseload stands at 5,09,673.
The Ministry pointed out that 79 per cent of the new recovered cases were observed to be concentrated in 10 States/UTs. Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single day recoveries with 8,232 newly recovered cases. 6,853 people recovered in Kerala followed by 6,069 in Delhi.
490 case fatalities have been reported in the past 24 hours. Fatalities have continued to decrease with less than 500 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours.
Of these 490 new deaths, ten States/UTs account for nearly 81 per cent. More than a quarter (25.51 per cent) of mortalities reported in the last 24 hours is from Maharashtra with 125 fatalities. Delhi and West Bengal follows with 77 and 59 new deaths, respectively.