Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: PM Modi to Meet CMs on Covid-19 Situation, Vaccine Drive as Cases Spike; States on Alert Amid Second Wave Fears

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a video conference with chief ministers today to assess the Covid-19 situation in the country as well as the vaccination drive amid a spike in active cases that has increased the government’s worry. PM Modi’s last interaction with chief ministers was in January before the vaccination roll-out. He had announced that the Centre will bear the expenses of vaccinating nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers in the first round and suggested that public representatives, a reference to politicians, should not be part of this initial exercise.

The announcement comes in the backdrop of states such as Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continuing to report a surge in Covid-19 daily cases, accounting for 78.41 per cent of the new cases, the Union Health Ministry said. Fifteen of the 19 districts in India with the highest number of coronavirus cases in the last ten days are in Maharashtra, which is grappling with an alarming spike in Covid cases. The state is “in the beginning of a second wave of Covid,” the Centre told the Uddhav Thackeray-led government. According to government data, nearly 1,000 new cases have been registered every day for the past ten days in Pune, Nagpur, and Mumbai. Nagpur, which is lockdown for a week since Monday, has seen 20,104 cases in the last ten days, compared to Pune’s 26,218 and Mumbai’s 11,859 in the same time.

The 19 districts with the highest number of coronavirus cases are Pune with 26,218 cases; Nagpur with 20,104; Mumbai with 11,859; Thane with 10,914; Nashik with 9,024; Aurangabad with 6,652; Jalgaon with 6,598; Indore with 5,238; Bengaluru Urban with 5,047; Amravati with 4,250; Ahmednagar with 3,962; Chennai with 3,811; Mumbai suburban with 3,355; Yavatmal with 3,326; Akola with 3,299; Buldhana with 3,185; Nanded with 3,146; Wardha with 2,431; and Jalandhar with 2,424, said a report by NDTV.