Punjab, 5 other states fuel surge in Covid cases

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 4

Punjab, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka continue to report a surge in daily new Covid-19 cases, accounting for 85.51 per cent of fresh cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.

Maharashtra reported the highest daily new cases at 9,855. This is the highest number recorded in the state since October 19, when 10,259 new cases were reported. Kerala saw 2,765 new cases and Punjab 1,074.

The active caseload surged to 1,73,413 after an addition of 17,407 cases over the past 24 hours. “Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh are showing a rise in active cases. On the other hand, Kerala, UP, Jharkhand, Bihar and Assam have shown a reduction,” the ministry said. Punjab saw the second highest daily rise in active cases (395) after Maharashtra (3,254).

The number of people with new virus strain from the UK, South Africa and Brazil rose to 242 today, amid concerns of further rise in mutation cases. Stressing speedy vaccination, the Health Ministry said India-made Covaxin had shown effectiveness against the new variants.

Among senior leaders who took the first doses of the vaccine today included former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his wife Gursharan Kaur, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

Overall 1.77 crore vaccine doses have been administered till Thursday morning. These include 2,18,939 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific comorbidities and 14,95,016 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years. On the 47th day of the vaccination drive, nearly 11 lakh vaccine doses were given.

In good news, 23 states and UTs have not reported any Covid deaths in 24 hours. These include Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, J&K, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Puducherry, Assam, Lakshadweep, Nagaland, Sikkim, Ladakh, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.

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Also read: 15 deaths, 1,074 new cases in Punjab