6 states account for over 80 per cent of fresh COVID-19 cases

New Delhi, Mar 10: Six states -- Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu -- accounted for 83.76 per cent of the 17,921 cases of COVID-19 reported in the country in a day, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

India''s tally of active COVID-19 cases stood at 1.84 lakh and comprised 1.64 per cent of the total infections, according to the ministry''s data.

The total number of tests conducted in India so far has crossed 22 crore and the daily positivity rate stood at 2.43 per cent. Maharashtra continued to report the highest daily new cases at 9,927, followed by Kerala with 2,316 cases and Punjab 1,027 fresh instances of the infection.

According to the ministry, 133 deaths were reported in a day, with five states accounting for 77.44 per cent of the fatalities.

Maharashtra saw the maximum daily deaths at 56, followed by Punjab where 20 people succumbed to the disease and Kerala witnessing 16 fatalities.

Nineteen states and Union Territories have not reported any COVID-19 death in a day. These are Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Bihar, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Tripura, Mizoram, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Arunachal Pradesh.

According to a provisional report, over 2.43 crore vaccine doses have been administered through 3,39,145 sessions till 7 am on Wednesday.

These include 71,30,098 healthcare and 69,36,480 frontline workers who have administered the first dose, 38,90,257 healthcare and 4,73,422 frontline workers who received the second dose of the vaccine.

Besides, 8,33,526 people aged more than 45 years with specific comorbidities and 51,04,123 beneficiaries aged over 60 years also were given the first dose.

On Day-53 of the vaccination drive, more than 13.5 lakh vaccine doses were given in 52,351 sessions. Out of this, 10,60,944 beneficiaries were administered the first dose and 2,98,229 healthcare and frontline workers received the second dose of the vaccine.

The 10,60,944 beneficiaries include 7,29,978 senior citizens and 1,31,717 individuals aged 45 to 60 years with specified comorbidities.