COVID-19 situation going from ‘bad to worse’: Govt   

Union Health Ministry on Tuesday said that the COVID-19 situation in the country is going “from bad to worse” recently and is a huge cause for worry. It also directed states witnessing a spike to ramp up testing with a focus on RT-PCR, isolate promptly, trace contacts, and boost healthcare resources.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said there are 10 districts across the country that have the most number of active cases – Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad, Bengaluru Urban, Nanded, Delhi and Ahmednagar.

The Ministry said there was a five times-rise in cases, and that without effective tracing and isolating “we let the virus go out of control”, while warning that the situation could now be considered “severe”.

India recorded 56,211 new covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Tuesday, taking the country’s total to over 1.20 crore. Out of the total cases, 5.40 lakh are active while over 1.13 crore people have recovered after testing positive. With 271 new deaths, the toll is over 1.62 lakh now.

Eight states, including Maharashtra, Karnataka and Punjab, account for 84.5 per cent of the 68,020 fresh cases recorded in the country.