Sharp increase in Covid cases, Centre urges heightened vigil

The Centre has written to eight states, urging them to take immediate measures. Cases of the highly infectious Omicron are also increasing rapidly in and around the big cities. Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurgaon, Ahmedabad, Nashik are reporting an increasing sudden trajectory of cases,  Addressing the ministry's weekly press briefing on the Covid-19 situation in New Delhi on Thursday health ministry's joint secretary Lav Agrawal said that the Centre is in contact with districts which are areas of concern,

Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are the five states with the highest number of active Covid cases, he said and added that Eight districts in India are reporting more than 10% weekly positivity rate. Six of them fall in Mizoram, 1 in Arunachal Pradesh and 1 in West Bengal (Kolkata). The ministry said it is in touch with all states to ensure containment of these cases. An uptick of cases has been witnessed in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai Suburban and Gurugram.On Thursday, India reported 13,154 new Covid-19 cases, the number of active cases stands at 82,402 cases, while the death toll rose to 4,80,860. The Omicron case tally on Thursday was 961, with Delhi reporting 263 cases and Maharashtra 252. Of the 961 cases, 320 patients have recovered.