8 states account for 90% active Covid cases, community spread ruled out

New Delhi: Eight states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka and Telangana account for around 90 per cent of the active COVID-19 cases in the country and 80 per cent of the active cases have been reported from 49 districts, the Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 was informed on a day when India saw a record single-day surge of 24,879 COVID-19 cases taking the caseload to 7,67,296 on Thursday.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Delhi, Telangana, UP and Andhra Pradesh contributed to around 75 per cent of the new cases, according to the Union Health ministry data.

Incidentally, the GoM was told that six states — Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal — account for 86 per cent of the deaths caused by COVID-19 and 32 districts account for 80 per cent of such fatalities, the Union Health ministry said.

The death toll climbed to 21,129 with 487 new fatalities, the updated data at 8 am showed.

The number of recoveries stands at 4,76,377, while there are 2,69,789 active cases of Coronavirus infection in the country.

"Around 62.08 per cent of patients have recovered so far," an official said.

Of the 487 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 198 are from Maharashtra, 64 from Tamil Nadu, 54 from Karnataka, 48 from Delhi among others.

Of the total 21,129 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra tops the tally with 9,448 fatalities followed by Delhi with 3,213 deaths and Gujarat with 1,993.

Maharashtra reported the highest number of cases at 2,23,724 followed by Tamil Nadu at 1,22,350, Delhi at 1,04,864, Gujarat at 38,333, Uttar Pradesh at 31,156, Telangana at 29,536 and Karnataka at 28,877, according to the ministry data.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 24,823 in West Bengal, 22,259 in Andhra Pradesh, 22,063 in Rajasthan, 18,690 in Haryana and 16,036 in Madhya Pradesh.

Amid a spurt in cases, the Health ministry added that India has not yet reached the community transmission stage of Covid and asserted that there have been localised outbreaks in some geographical areas.

Meanwhile, the Union Health ministry on Thursday clarified that August 15 deadline for an indigenous Covid vaccine is "only to expedite duly approved clinical trials without compromising on safety and security concerns".

During the press conference, Rajesh Bhushan, Officer on Special Duty, Health ministry said: "Please don't read something which is not there in DG-ICMR's letter. Letter's intent is only to expedite duly approved clinical trials without compromising on safety and security concerns."

Earlier, ICMR DG Balram Bhargava wrote a letter to Bharat Biotech and principal investigators of medical colleges to complete the trial procedure of indigenous COVID-19 vaccine in a fast track method so that results of a clinical trial can be launched by August 15.