PM Modi reviews Covid situation as India records this year's biggest single-day spike

New Delhi: The "alarming" surge in Coronavirus cases in India remained unabated as 93,249 new infections were recorded on Sunday, the highest single-day rise since September 19, with the Centre attributing it to a severe decline in the compliance of COVID-appropriate behaviour, pandemic fatigue and lack of effective implementation of containment measures.

Maharashtra, which is the worst affected, announced a weekend lockdown in the state from 8 PM on Friday and a shut down of private offices, except in the banking and insurance sectors, from Monday night with employees allowed to work from home, besides other restrictions.

At a review meeting with senior officials, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed that central teams consisting of public health specialists be sent to Maharashtra, Punjab and Chhattisgarh, where the situation was of serious concern.

They are among 10 high burden states and UTs are contributing 91.4 per cent of the total cases and 90.9 per cent of the total deaths in the country.

The Centre said that a special campaign for COVID-appropriate behaviour with emphasis on 100 per cent mask usage, personal hygiene and sanitation at public places, workplaces and health facilities will be organised between April 6-14.

Modi said the five-fold strategy of testing, tracing, treatment, COVID-appropriate behaviour and vaccination if implemented with utmost seriousness and commitment would be effective in curbing the pandemic's spread, according to an official statement.

He called for avoiding mortality under all circumstances by ramping up healthcare infrastructure and other measures and exhorted that all states need to take required stringent measures with comprehensive restrictions in places witnessing high surge to curb the spread.

The reasons for the sharp rise in cases could be mainly attributed to the severe decline in compliance of COVID-appropriate behaviour, especially in the use of masks and social distancing, pandemic fatigue and lack of effective implementation of containment measures at the field level, said the statement released after the prime minister's review meeting with senior officials.

It was noted in the meeting that the exact contribution of mutant strains to the escalation of cases in some states remains speculative and the measures to control the pandemic remain the same, and hence the implementation of various protocols for COVID-19 management is all the more critical in those areas. Sunday saw the biggest daily rise in cases since September 19, when 93,337 fresh infections were recorded.

The death toll climbed to 1,64,623 on Sunday with 513 new fatalities, the health ministry data updated at 8 AM showed.

Registering a steady increase for the 25th straight day, the number of active cases surged to 6,91,597, accounting for 5.54 per cent of the total infections. The recovery rate further dropped to 93.14 per cent, the data stated.

The active caseload was at its lowest at 1,35,926 on February 12, comprising 1.25 per cent of the total infections.

"A detailed presentation was made which highlighted that there is an alarming rate of growth of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the country with 10 states contributing to more than 91 percent of cases and deaths due to COVID," the statement on the review meeting said.

The presentation highlighted that Maharashtra has contributed 57 percent of the total cases and 47 per cent of deaths in the country in the last 14 days.

The meeting was also informed that vaccine manufacturers are ramping up their production capacity and are also in discussion with other domestic and offshore companies to augment the same.

As India races to contain the fresh wave of COVID-19, five states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal have carried out over 43 per cent of the total vaccinations in the country, according to the Health Ministry data.

Of the total 7,59,79,651 vaccinations carried out till now, 3,33,10,437 were carried out in these five states.

While 2,91,54,577 were first doses and 41,55,860 were second doses in these five states, according to the data till 7 am on Sunday.

Many states have tightened or reintroduced restrictions after the fresh surge in cases.

Maharashtra government on Sunday announced a weekend lockdown and night curfew during the weekdays from Monday to April 30, in addition to a slew of other restrictions like closure of private offices, theatres and salons to curb the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases.

The weekend lockdown will start from 8 pm on Fridays and last till 7 am on Mondays.

Besides, prohibitory orders will be in force during daytime on weekdays, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said in a statement.

Except the essential services shops, medical shops and grocery shops, all other shops, markets and shopping malls will be closed till April 30.

All these new restrictions will come into effect from Monday 8 pm and will be called 'Break the Chain' instead of 'Mission Begin Again', a campaign that was launched by the state government for phase-wise reopening of lockdown last year.

The Haryana government issued fresh guidelines putting a ceiling on the number of people permitted to attend functions in open spaces and indoors, and at funerals.

Under the new standard operating procedure (SOPs), organisers of social, academic, sports, entertainment, cultural, religious and political gatherings must take permission from district magistrates, the state government stated.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said his government will restrict the movement of people from neighbouring Chhattisgarh to curb the spread of COVID-19 and a lockdown will be enforced in isolated areas whenever needed.

He said they have already sealed Madhya Pradesh's areas bordering Maharashtra.

Assam issued fresh notifications for mandatory testing of air and train passengers coming to the state from Mumbai and Bengaluru to check the spread of virus.