By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, FEB 25, 2021: INDIA recorded a massive single-day spike in the last 24 hours with 16,738 new cases, taking the total tally to 1,10,46,914, said the Health Ministry on Thursday.

The majority of new cases, 89.57 per cent, were reported from the seven States of Maharashtra (8,807), Kerala (4,106), Punjab (558), Tamil Nadu (463), Gujarat (380), Madhya Pradesh (344), and Karnataka (334).

With the surge, the active caseload on Thursday once again crossed the 1.5 lakh mark, as 1,51,708 cases remained active in the country.

The death toll increased to 1,56,705 with 138 daily fatalities. The number of recovered cases remained below the fresh infections as data showed 11,799 people had recovered and been discharged in the last 24 hours.

The sudden surge of cases in several States has become a cause for concern with the Centre rushing in high-level multi-disciplinary teams to nine States and a Union Territory (UT) to ascertain reasons for the rise after they reported over 100 fresh daily cases in the past week.

The teams will coordinate with the local health officials of Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir, in COVID-19 control and containment measures.

The vaccination coverage has been extended to include 65,47,831 healthcare workers and 45,06,984 frontline workers receiving their first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccines. The government said it has administered 1,26,71,163 shots so far.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 21,38,29,658 samples have been tested as of February 24 with 7,93,383 samples being tested on Wednesday.