February 23 – Active Covid-19 cases in India rose for the fifth consecutive day following an upsurge in infections in Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh. According to the Union Health Ministry, active cases went past the 1.5 lakh mark on Monday after a gap of 17 days, with total infections crossing 1.10 crore. Maharashtra and Kerala account for 74 per cent of all the active cases.
With active cases increasing by 4,421 in a span of 24 hours, registering a rise of 3 per cent, Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the Covid-19 situation in a meeting that was attended by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and top officials.
Maharashtra, which has the highest infection tally, reported 5,210 fresh infections on Monday after logging over 6,000 cases for three days in a row. Mumbai, which has recorded 36.38 per cent rise in active Covid-19 cases since February 8, saw 760 new cases after reporting over 900 infections daily for two consecutive days.
To check the spread of Covid-19, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat said people coming from Maharashtra would be subjected to thermal screening. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said in view of the rising Covid-19 cases, religious, social and political gatherings will be prohibited in the state from Monday.
In Karnataka, Health Minister K Sudhakar cautioned people against negligence towards following COVID protocols, and of stricter steps if the number of cases increase. He said marshals would be deployed to monitor weddings. He also said that the government had mandated RT-PCR certificates not older than 72 hours for those arriving in the state from neighbouring Kerala and Maharashtra.
In the national capital, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal directed authorities to take all necessary steps to prevent any rise in COVID-19 cases in view of the surge in some states.
As per the data released by the health ministry, 19 states/UTs have not reported any COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours. (IndiaToday)
