Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday reviewed the recent COVID-19 situation in India following the sudden spike in cases in several states. The meeting was attended by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and several other home ministry officials.
During the meeting, Shah addressed the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive and the further course of action that is needed to restrain the further spread of the virus. The Home Minister also assured the affected states of the Centre providing possible assistance.
The meeting was scheduled after a sudden hike in COVID-19 cases in five states including Punjab, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh. India’s positivity rate reached 5.20 per cent.
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The health ministry said, “The number of beneficiaries being tested per million every day has shown a consistent and progressive increase. India’s tests per million stand at 1,53,298.4 as of date.” The ministry also noted that 80.86% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in five states as well.
The 2nd dose of COVID-19 vaccination started on February 13 for those beneficiaries who have completed 28 days after receipt of the 1st dose. Vaccination of the front line workers started on February 2.
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As of now, a total of 14,199 new daily cases have been recorded in a span of 24 hours. On the other hand, Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Daman and Diu and Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Andaman and Nicobar Islands have not reported any new case in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.
According to the ministry, 86.3% of the new cases are from five states that include Maharashtra which continues to report the highest daily new cases at 6,971. It is followed by Kerala with 4,070 while Tamil Nadu reported 452 new cases. Among the 83 deaths in the last 24 hours, the five states account for 78.31% of it with Maharashtra registering 35 casualties and Kerala reporting 15.
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