Eight states have more than 100,000 active Covid-19 cases, testing increased consistently: Centre

The Centre on Tuesday said that at present eight states have more than 100,000 active cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The government also said that the number of tests conducted for Covid-19 in India has witnessed a “consistent increase.”

In a press briefing by the Union ministry of health and family welfare, joint secretary Lav Agarwal said that eight states -- Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal -- have more than 100,000 active Covid-19 cases.

Karnataka with 603,660 active cases added the maximum. Data from the ministry also showed that there are 10 states that have between 50,000 and 100,000 active cases and there are 18 states where the active caseload is below 50,000.

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The ministry also said that the number of tests conducted for Covid-19 has seen a “consistent increase” across the country. Between May 11 and 17, health workers have tested 1,845,672 samples for the disease which has increased from 1,816,139 samples tested between May 4 and 10.

Mentioning that 1.8% of India’s population has been affected by the disease, the ministry said that “Despite the high number of cases reported so far, we have been able to contain the spread to under 2% of population.”

The US leads the list, where 10.1% of the population has tested positive followed by France (9%) and Brazil (7.3%). However, the number of people affected in India is much higher than the other countries (except the US) mentioned by the ministry.

Meanwhile, at least six states, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, have shown a decline in the daily new cases and also the positivity rate, the ministry highlighted. However, in states like Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Mizoram, the two parameters have seen an increasing trend. In Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Puducherry and Nagaland, the cases seem to have plateaued, the ministry noted.

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Among the districts, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik in Maharashtra have shown a continued decline in the cases in the past three weeks, according to data from the ministry.

As far as the Covid-19 vaccination is concerned, more than 184 million doses of the vaccine have been administered so far. Of these, 139.5 million doses have been given to beneficiaries above 45 years of age, while more than 5.9 million doses have been received by the people in the 18 to 44 years age group. Also, 22.7 million doses have been used to inoculate frontline workers and 16.3 million doses to healthcare workers, data from the ministry showed.

India reported 263,533 new Covid-19 cases on the day and 4,329 patients succumbed to the infection, pushing the death toll to 278,719.