Eight states, including Maharashtra and Karnataka, have witnessed a sharp rise in new Covid-19 cases, accounting for 81.42% of the total infections reported on Saturday, the Union Health Ministry said.
Besides Maharashtra and Karnataka, the other states which reported high number of cases were Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.
The country witnessed 89,129 new cases in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 47,913 followed by Karnataka with 4,991 and Chhattisgarh 4,174 new cases.
Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 47,913, followed by 4,991 in Karnataka and 4,174 in Chhattisgarh.
According to the statistics, Maharashtra has shown a nine-fold jump, the maximum increase in the number of active cases in the last two months. In percentage terms, Punjab has reported the maximum increase in active cases.
The total active case load has now touched 6,58,909.
The Ministry data showed ten districts -- Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Bengaluru Urban, Aurangabad, Delhi, Ahmednagar and Nanded -- had half of the total active cases of the country.
On Friday, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired a high-level review meeting m with chief secretaries, directors general of police and health secretaries of all states.
The meeting focussed on 11 states and Union Territories that have been reporting a very high rise in daily cases and fatality because of Covid-19 in the last two weeks.
An official statement said these states and UTs "of grave concern" were advised to take up immediate and effective measures to ensure containment of active cases and daily deaths through enhanced testing, strict containment, prompt contact tracing and enforcement of Covid-19-appropriate behaviour, and adherence to the standard clinical management protocol shared earlier with all states and UTs.
The cumulative recoveries stand at 1,15,69,241 with 44,202 recoveries being registered in a day.