Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet all chief ministers on Wednesday amid a surge in Covid-19 cases in several states, forcing them to impose restrictions on movement of people to check further spread of the virus.
India reported 26,291 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, the highest single-day spike in 85 days even as Nagpur imposed a week-long lockdown to check the surge in cases, while Latur and Ahmedabad ordered night curfew to contain the spread of the virus.
Modi is scheduled to meet chief ministers of all states through video conferencing at 12:30 pm to discuss the Covid-19 situation and seek feedback on the vaccination drive.
As of Monday evening, India had administered more than 3.17 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine since the immunisation drive began on January 16.
“A total 18,63,623 vaccine doses were given till 7 pm on Monday, the 59th day of nationwide Covid-19 vaccination. Of these, 15,98,136 beneficiaries were vaccinated for 1st dose and 2,65,487 HCWs and FLWs received 2nd dose of vaccine as per the provisional report,” an official statement said.
According to the Health Ministry, Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a surge in daily cases of Covid-19, accounting for 78.41% of the new cases.
Of the 26,291 new cases registered till Monday morning, Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 16,620 (accounting for 63.21% of the daily new cases), followed by Kerala with 1,792 new cases and Punjab 1,492 new cases.
As fresh cases continued to rise in Punjab, the state education department has postponed Class 10 and Class 12 examinations that were scheduled to begin from April 9 and March 22 respectively.
“Now, Class 10 board exams will be held between May 4 and May 24 and Class 12 exams will be held between April 20 and May 24,” an official said.
India's total Covid-19 active caseload has reached 2,19,262 comprising 1.93% of the total infections.
Modi had last met chief ministers on January 11 ahead of the roll out of the vaccination drive in the country.