COVID-19 cases: Upsurge in new cases in Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh

New Delhi: Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have recorded an “upsurge” in daily new cases of COVID-19, the Union Health Ministry said on February 20.

In a statement, the ministry said in the last seven days, Chhattisgarh has also seen a rise in daily active new cases. In the last 24 hours, 259 daily new cases have been reported, it said.

Kerala continues to report a high number of daily new cases and in the past week, Maharashtra has exhibited a spike in the number of daily new cases, accounting for the highest number of daily new cases in the country on Saturday, the ministry said in the statement.

“In the last 24 hours, 6,112 daily new cases have been reported in the state,” it said.

Similar to Maharashtra, the ministry said Punjab has also shown a sudden spike in the number of daily new cases reported in the last seven days with 383 fresh cases recorded in the last 24 hours.

“Since February 13, Madhya Pradesh is also witnessing a rise in the number of daily new cases. In the last 24 hours, 297 daily new cases have been registered in the state,” the ministry said.

The ministry stressed the importance of adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour for breaking the chain of transmission and containment of spread of the disease.

Only two states, Maharashtra and Kerala, account for 75.87 per cent of total number of active COVID-19 cases, the ministry added.

The ministry said 18 states/UTs have not reported any COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours. These are Telangana, Haryana, J&K (UT), Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Assam, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Meghalaya, Ladakh (UT), Mizoram, Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu .

The ministry said a total of 1,07,15,204 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered through 2,22,313 sessions, as per the provisional report till 8 am today.

These include 63,28,479 healthcare workers (first dose), 8,47,161 healthcare workers (second dose) and 35,39,564 frontline workers (first dose), the ministry said.

The second dose of COVID-19 vaccination started on February 13 for those beneficiaries who have completed 28 days after receipt of the first dose. Vaccination of the frontline workers started on February 2.

The ministry said nine states have administered more than five lakh doses each. These are Uttar Pradesh (11,52,042), Maharashtra (8,60,386), Gujarat (8,56,657), Rajasthan (7,99,719), West Bengal (6,50,976), Karnataka (6,29,420), Madhya Pradesh (6,26,391), Bihar (5,50,433) and Odisha (5,01,713).