Six states — Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat continue to report major surge in daily cases of Covid-19. About 78.56 per cent of the new cases are reported from these six states.

India recorded 56,211 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, 17 per cent lower than the day before, taking the total tally to 1,20,95,855 on Tuesday. Lower count of cases is a result of low testing.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of fresh cases — 31,643. It is followed by Punjab with 2,868 while Karnataka reported 2,792 new cases.

India fought through the first wave of infection six months ago and recorded a highest single-day spike of 93,617 cases on September 16. The highest number of deaths recorded in a day were 1,169 on September 15.

India’s total active caseload has reached 5,40,720 on Tuesday. India’s present active caseload now stands at 4.47 per cent of India’s total positive cases.

A net incline of 18,912 cases were recorded from the total active caseload in the last 24 hours.

Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh cumulatively account for 79.64 per cent of the total active cases in the country. Maharashtra leads with more than 62 per cent of the active caseload of the country.

India’s cumulative recoveries stand at 1,13,93,021 on Tuesday. The national recovery rate is 94.19 per cent, with 37,028 recoveries registered in the last 24 hours. The toll increased to 1,62,114 with 271 daily new fatalities.

On the other hand, more than 6.11 crore vaccine doses have been administered through 10,07,091 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 a.m.

These include 81,74,916 healthcare workers (1st dose), 51,88,747 healthcare workers (2nd dose), 89,44,742 frontline workers (1st dose) and 37,11,221 frontline workers (2nd dose).

About 68,72,483 (1st dose) and 405 (2nd dose) has been given to beneficiaries aged above 45 years with specific co-morbidities and 2,82,19,257 (1st dose) and 1,583 (2nd dose) beneficiaries aged over 60.

As on Day-73 of the vaccination drive on March 29, a total of 5,82,919 vaccine doses were given. Out of which, 5,51,164 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 14,608 sessions for 1st dose and 31,755 beneficiaries received 2nd dose of vaccine.

Now, those over 45 years of age will also get Covid-19 vaccine from April 1, irrespective of the co-morbidities.