NEW DELHI: India on Thursday morning recorded the highest single-day Covid cases in more than two months, largely due to the spike fuelled by Kerala.
On Thursday morning, a total of 47,092 fresh cases of coronavirus were detected in India — mainly on account of new cases reported in Kerala and Maharashtra.
In the last 24 hours, while Kerala registered 32,803 new cases, this figure was 4,456 in Maharashtra — the state with the second-highest number of total active cases at present, after Kerala.
In a press briefing on the Covid situation in the states, Union health secretary Bhushan said from 279 districts that were reporting 100 cases on a daily basis in June this year, the number has come down to 42 districts, as on August 30.
“Kerala is one state that has more than 1 lakh active cases and this number stands at nearly 2.3 lakh as of now. Four states have 10,000 to 1 lakh active cases -- Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. The rest of the states have less than 10,000 active cases,” he said.
Figures showed that there are 42 districts from where more than 100 coronavirus infections are being reported daily while in 41 districts, the Covid19 test positivity rate is over 10 %.
Meanwhile, in the press conference, V K Paul, member (health), Niti Aayog, and head of the national Covid19 task force warned against dropping caution during the upcoming festive season, adding despite the vaccination programme accelerating in the country, the precautions against Covid-19 must continue.
“The time has not yet come to remove masks,” he said.
“This year too, festivals will be celebrated in the same way as they were celebrated last year. We have to wait for more for festivals to be celebrated traditionally,” Paul said, urging people to celebrate festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussehra, and Eid within their families.