India`s COVID-19 active cases were recorded at 1,51,708, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday, highlighting that the surge was due to rise in daily new cases in some states like Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.

A total of 16,738 new daily cases have been recorded in a span of 24 hours.

The ministry said 89.57 per cent of the new cases are from seven states.

Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 8,807. It is followed by Kerala with 4,106 cases while Punjab reported 558 new cases.

The Centre has deputed high-level 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 and coordinate with the state health departments in COVID-19 control and containment measures.

The Centre has also written to states and UTs to focus on undertaking aggressive measures to break the chain of transmission.

States and UTs 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 are to be isolated/hospitalised, all their close contacts be traced and also tested without delay. They have been advised to critical review the emerging situation on a regular basis with district officials concerned to ensure that gains made so far in COVID-19 management are not lost.

The country has been witnessing a continuous decline in cumulative positivity rate. Till February 25, the cumulative positivity rate stands at 5.17 per cent.

Till 7 am today, the vaccination coverage was 1,26,71,163 through 2,64,315 sessions, as per the provisional report. These include 65,47,831 healthcare workers (HCWs 1st dose), 16,16,348 HCWs (2nd dose) and 45,06,984 frontline workers (FLWs 1st dose).

The 2nd dose of COVID-19 vaccination started on February 13 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-40 of the vaccination drive (24th February), 5,03,947 vaccine doses were given.

Out of which, 2,87,032 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 9,959 sessions for 1st dose (HCWs and FLWs) and 2,16,915 HCWs received 2nd dose of vaccine.

Out of total 1,26,71,163 vaccine doses, 1,10,54,815 (HCWs and FLWs) have received 1st dose of vaccine and total 16,16,348 HCWs have received the 2nd dose of vaccine.

Eight states account for more than 56 per cent of the total vaccine doses.

Each of them has administered more than 6 lakh doses. Uttar Pradesh have vaccinated 9.68 per cent of the total doses (12,26,775).

Eight states account for 61 per cent of the total second vaccine doses. Karnataka vaccinated maximum number of HCWs for second dose i.e. 11.08% (1,79,124).

Twelve states and UTs have administered second vaccine dose to more than 80 per cent of the eligible HCWs. These are Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, D&D, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Gujarat, Tripura, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Sikkim.

Ten states and UTs have vaccinated more than 60 per cent of registered FLWs. These are D&N, Rajasthan, Lakshadweep, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh.

"The gap between total recovered cases and the active cases is constantly rising and stands at 10,586,793 today. A total of 11,799 recoveries were registered in a span of 24 hours," the ministry said.

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