NEW DELHI, Feb 28: Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat continued to report an upsurge in covid cases on Saturday.

The Centre has advised the States to maintain strict vigil, and not to drop their guard. They have been asked to undertake measures for the effective containment and management of the epidemic.

Multi-disciplinary Central teams have been sent to the States/UTs witnessing a second wave of covid cases.

India’s total Active Cases reached 1,64,511 on Saturday. It is 1.48% of total positive cases. 86.37% of the total new cases in the country are from the six States. The new cases were 16,752 in the last 24 hours in the country. Maharashtra reported the highest daily new cases at 8,623, followed by Kerala with 3,792 and Punjab 593 new cases.

Maharashtra had the maximum casualties (51). Kerala followed with 18 daily deaths and Punjab reported 11 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Nineteen States/UTs have not reported any deaths in the last 24 hours. These are Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, J&K (UT), Odisha, Goa, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Sikkim, Ladakh (UT), Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland, A&N Islands, D&D & D&N and Arunachal Pradesh.

A total of 1,43,01,266 vaccine doses have been administered through 2,92,312 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am on Sunday. These include 66,69,985 HCWs (1st dose), 24,56,191 HCWs (2nd dose) and 51,75,090 FLWs (1st dose).

The second phase of vaccination begins on March 1 for those who are over 60 years of age and those in the 45-60 age group with comorbidities.

Around 10,000 private hospitals under Ayushman Bharat PMJAY and more than 600 private hospitals under the Central Government Health Scheme will be utilized. Other private hospitals empanelled under State Health Insurance Scheme may also be listed.

The Cabinet Secretary chaired a high-level review meeting with States/UTs including Telangana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, MP, Gujarat, Punjab, J&K and West Bengal. They were told to step up testing and comprehensive tracking, prompt isolation and quick quarantine of close contacts.

The Centre has deputed multi-disciplinary teams to Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir (UT) to ascertain reasons for the surge.