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‘Upsurge in Tier II, III cities’

According to Union health ministry data, cases are rising in at least eight states, which account for a majority of new Covid cases added daily, close to 85 per cent.

‘Upsurge in Tier II, III cities’

Neha Begum (C), a medical officer checks the body temperature of a resident as Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers watch during the health check-up of residents to test for the Covid-19 coronavirus at a slum area in Hyderabad on September 24, 2020. (Photo by NOAH SEELAM / AFP)

A year after the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, it has become apparent that the country is facing what would be a second wave of coronavirus infections, with daily new Covid-19 showing a relentlessly upward trend after a few months when a sharp decline in cases was recorded.

Initially, it appeared that infections were only picking up in Maharashtra and Punjab. However, according to Union health ministry data, cases are rising in at least eight states, which account for a majority of new Covid cases added daily, close to 85 per cent.

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“A significant situation is emerging as plummeting pandemic is going up. The Prime Minister said that pandemic seems to be more so in Tier II, Tier III cities and closer to rural areas. The earlier phase was in big metro cities,” Dr VK Paul, member (health) of NITI Aayog, told a Press conference.

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India logged 28,903 new Covid-19 cases and 188 fatalities in 24 hours, as of 8 a.m. on Wednesday, with five states ~ Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu ~ driving up the daily cases.

Maharashtra alone accounted for 17,864 of these cases and as of Wednesday evening, had reported another 23,179 new cases during the day.

The active caseload in the country has reached 2,34,406. 17,741 patients were discharged in a day.

So far, 3,50,64,536 doses of vaccine have been administered since the drive began on 16 January. More than 21 lakh doses were administered on Tuesday alone.

Delhi sees 536 cases, highest in 2.5 months:Delhi today recorded a spike of 536 new coronavirus cases ~ the highest in about two-and- a-half months ~ while 3 more persons died from the contagious, deadly virus.

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