Representational image. PTI

Even as India recorded a single-day spike of 9,121 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, hotspots have extended from cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad to Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, according to news reports.

As per the data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on 16, 81 deaths were reported, taking the COVID-19 toll to 1,55,813. India’s confirmed cases of coronavirus stand at 1,09,25,710, which include 1,36,872 active infections, while over 1,06,33,025 people have recovered.

While Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Ahmedabad are now witnessing a plateauing of the outbreak, an exponential spurt in cases have been witnessed in Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad.

According to a report in The Times of India, cases have risen at an average of 12.9 percent per day in the last month in Bengaluru. Deaths mounting to 8.9 percent per day for the duration have raised further concerns.

When looking at the deaths per 100 COVID-19 cases, it is seen that Ahmedabad remains at the top in terms of deaths per 100 COVID-19 cases, followed by Mumbai and Kolkata. In terms of case density, Chennai has the greatest density of infections, followed by Mumbai, Pune and Delhi.

The average rise in cases is higher in Pune now than in Mumbai, and has surpassed the national average in Surat while the rate is growing significantly slower in Ahmedabad, according to News18 report.

In Maharashtra, Amaravati has emerged as a hotspot, reporting 430 new cases on Sunday. It joined the list of cities in like Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, which have recorded the highest number of single-day cases this year, The Indian Express reported. The district’s active caseload rose to 2,828, increasing drastically as compared to the 399 active cases until 14 January. Additionally, 12 nurses, who had received their first vaccine shot, tested positive for COVID-19 in Amravati civil hospital. The sharp rise in infections in Amravati, which was recorded around 70 cases in a day till January, has prompted officials to test samples of COVID-19 positive persons for the UK or Africa variant of the virus, apart from other mutations.

While Amravati is reporting a positivity rate of 12.4 percent, some districts in Vidarbha are also showing a surge in case numbers. In contrast, Mumbai has a positivity rate below 5 percent. There are more COVID-19 cases in Thane and Pune districts than in Mumbai, which has reported only 20 percent of all new infections in the state. Thane, Kalyan and Navi Mumbai municipal corporations have reported over 10,000 cases each.

Collector Shailesh Nawal reimposed night curfew under Section 144 (IPC) until 28 February and restricted movement of more than a group of four people at night in the city. Stricter COVID-19 norms include squads inspecting the use of masks, a 50-person cap on weddings and closing down of schools, except for Classes 10 and 12.

However, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey told Rajya Sabha last week that India has shown a declining trend of COVID-19 cases since the last four months. He added that the Aarogya Setu ITIHAS interface, which uses location data and the Aarogya Setu analytics to predict emerging hotspots were used effectively to support tracking and surveillance.