Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a high number of fresh COVID-19 cases and together account for 85.91 per cent of the new cases of the coronavirus infection reported in the country in a span of 24 hours, the Union health ministry said today. A total of 22,854 new COVID-19 cases were registered in the country in the said period. Maharashtra has reported the highest number of fresh cases at 13,659 (almost 60 per cent of the number of cases reported in the country), followed by Kerala (2,475) and Punjab (1,393), the ministry said. Eight states — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana — are displaying an upward trajectory in the number of fresh cases.

India currently has 1,89,226 active COVID-19 cases, which account for1.68 per cent of its total caseload. Showing the change in the number of active cases for the states in the 24-hour period, the health ministry said Kerala reported the maximum decline in the figure while Maharashtra has shown the maximum increase.

More than 2.56 crore (2,56,85,011) vaccine doses have so far been administered in the country through4,78,168sessions, according to a provisional report compiled at Thursday 7 am, the ministry said. The beneficiaries include71,97,100 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have been administered the first dose,40,13,249HCWswho have been given the second dose,70,54,659 frontline workers (FLWs) who have been given the first dose and6,37,281FLWs who have received the second dose.