Chhattisgarh reports 9,921 new COVID-19 cases, 53 deaths in last 24 hours

With this, the total cases mounted to 3,86,269 including 52,445 active cases and 3,29,408 total recoveries. However, the death toll mounted to 4,416 including the new deaths.

The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday chaired a high-level review meeting with Health Ministers, Additional Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries (Health) of States/Union Territories (UTs) of Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan. These states have been reporting a very high rise in daily cases and daily mortality because of COVID-19 in the last two weeks.

After a detailed and comprehensive review of the measures taken by the States/UTs, the Union Health Minister concluded that these 11 States together contribute to 54 per cent of the total cases and 65 per cent of the total deaths in the country.

The disproportionate higher deaths in Maharashtra and Punjab have further increased during the last 14 days, contributing to 64 per cent of the total deaths in the country. Since February 2021, these states have witnessed a steep increase in cases, a majority of which was reported in the younger population (among 15-44 years of age).

On the other hand, the majority of the deaths have been reported among the elderly population (more than 60 years). Maharashtra (25 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (14 per cent) have reported the highest positivity rate. It was also observed that during the past 4 weeks testing has increased but Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) proportion is very high in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

In a sign of relief, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 8.40 crore on Tuesday. "A total of 8,40,65,357 vaccine doses have been given, as per the provisional report till 8 pm on Tuesday," as per the Union Health Ministry. (ANI)