They have also been advised to increase testing in a focussed manner in the affected districts

The central government has deputed high level multi-disciplinary teams to eight states for supporting them in public health measures for targeted COVID response and management, and effectively tackling the pandemic.

The states, which have reported a spike in cases in recent days, include Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the three–member multidisciplinary teams will work closely with the States/UT administration and ascertain reasons for the recent surge in the number of COVID19 cases. They will also coordinate with health authorities of the States/UT for requisite COVID19 control measures to break the chain of transmission.

The Centre has also written to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which have been witnessing a rise in daily COVID cases, along with decreasing proportion of RT-PCR tests and rise in positivity in some districts.

In the letter, the Union Health Secretary has exhorted Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to focus on undertaking aggressive measures to break the chain of transmission and to ensure that RT-PCR testing is amplified to flush out hitherto undetected cases from the population.

These States/UT have been advised to increase testing in a focussed manner in the affected districts with the appropriate split of RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Tests and to also ensure that all symptomatic negatives of antigen tests are compulsorily tested via RT-PCR tests.

The positive persons must be promptly isolated/hospitalised, all their close contacts be traced and also tested without delay.

Meanwhile, India has been containing the country’s Active Caseload under 1.50 lakh. The active cases are 1,46,907. The present active caseload now consists of 1.33% of India’s total Positive Cases.

As per the data released by the Health Ministry, 13,742 new daily cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours whereas 14,037 recoveries registered. It has led to a net decline of 399 cases in the total active caseload.

In the last one week, 12 states have reported more than 100 average daily new cases. These are Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Telangana, Delhi and Haryana. Two States, Kerala and Maharashtra both report more than 4,000 average daily new cases in the past one week.

As on 24thFebruary, the vaccination coverage was 1,21,65,598 through 2,54,356 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am. These include 64,98,300 HCWs (1st dose), 13,98,400 HCWs (2nd dose) and 42,68,898 FLWs (1st dose).

The 2nd dose of COVID19 vaccination started on 13th February, 2021 for those beneficiaries who have completed 28 days after receipt of the 1st dose. Vaccination of the FLWs started on 2nd Feb 2021.

On Day-39 of the vaccination drive (23rdFebruary, 2021), 4,20,046 vaccine doses were given. Out of which, 2,79,823 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 9,479 sessions for 1st dose (HCWs and FLWs) and 1,40,223 HCWs received 2nd dose of vaccine.

Out of total 1,21,65,598 vaccine doses, 1,07,67,198 (HCWs and FLWs) have received 1st dose of vaccine and total 13,98,400 HCWs have received the 2nd dose of vaccine.

12 States/UTs have administered more than 75% of the registered HCWs.

These are Bihar, Tripura, Odisha, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, UP and Rajasthan.
Ten States/UTs have vaccinated more than 60% of registered FLWs. These are Dadra and Nagar Haweli, Rajasthan, Lakshadweep, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh.

About the recoveries, the Health Ministry noted that India’s cumulative recoveries stand at 1,07,26,702. The Recovery Rate is 97.25%.

“The gap between total recovered cases and the active cases is constantly rising and stands at 10,579,795 today,” the Health ministry said in a statement.

Of the new recovered cases, 86.26% are observed to be concentrated in six states.
Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single day recoveries with 5,869 newly recovered cases.4,823 people recovered in Kerala in the past 24 hours followed by 453 in Tamil Nadu.

Of the new active cases, 86.15% are from six States.

Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 6,218 followed by Kerala with 4,034 while Tamil Nadu reported 442 new cases.

Meanwhile, 104 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

Five States account for 81.73%of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (51). Kerala reported 14 deaths and Punjab reported 10 deaths.

19 States/UTs have not reported any COVID19 deaths in the last 24 hours.

These are Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Assam, Lakshadweep, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, A&N Islands, Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, D&D and D&N.

Thirteen states have reported 1 to 5 deaths; 2 states have reported 6 to 10 deaths; 1 state has reported 10 to 20 deaths and 1 state has reported more than 20 deaths.