The country reported 188 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Saturday. India is seeing a surge in COVID-19 deaths after the country touched a low of less than 100 deaths per day in February.

Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh continue to report a spike in new cases. Amid the surge, doctors have requested the Central government to expand the vaccination cover to include caregivers of patients who are bed ridden.

You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.

Here are the latest updates:

Karnataka

HSR Layout, R.R. Nagar, Bellandur among wards with most cases in Bengaluru

As Karnataka joins four other States in making up for 80% of new infections in India, Bengaluru is beginning to witness a repeat of scenes from last year when COVID-19 was on a steady rise.

In the last 10 days, 10 wards in particular reported the most number of cases: Arakere, Begur, HSR Layout, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Bellandur, Shantalanagar, Hagadur, Doddanekundi, Banaswadi and New Thippasandra.

However, the BBMP seems to have no specific plans for these wards. BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said the same plan put in place for other wards will be applicable to these as well. “We are focussing on more testing and more vaccination,” he said.

Though the city has been the primary contributor to the caseload throughout the pandemic, the marked increase in the last few days is raising concerns. On Saturday, 1,186 new positive cases were reported in Bengaluru Urban, along with five new deaths. According to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) war room data for Friday, there were 1,037 new cases.

Germany

Police use water cannon as German lockdown protest turns violent

Germany Police deployed water cannon and pepper spray after a gathering of some 20,000 protesters against lockdown and other coronavirus rules in central Germany turned violent, with some demonstrators throwing bottles at police.

Protesters from all over Germany converged on the central city of Kassel for the march, which was organised by the “Querdenker” – “Lateral Thinkers” – online conspiracy movement.

“Bottles were thrown and there were attempts to breakthrough barriers,” police said on Twitter.

Police said protesters disobeyed instructions they gave to help ensure people’s safety, including by refusing to wear masks and observe social distancing guidelines.

Tamil Nadu

Thanjavur school booked for not adhering to SOP

A case has been registered against a private school in Thanjavur, where a cluster of cases was detected, on the charge of negligence in adhering to the standard operating procedure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

A second batch of 15 students at a private school in Thanjavur tested positive on Friday. Already 11 students at the same school had tested positive for novel coronavirus infection. Hence, a case has been registered against the school management and a fine of ₹5,000 was collected from it, Collector M. Govinda Rao said.

In an attempt to ensure that standard operating procedures were followed scrupulously by the students, the schools from where positive cases were reported were being levied penalties, Mr. Rao said.

To stop the virus from spreading through schools, the flying squads formed in the 8 Assembly segments have been asked to monitor whether the students wore masks or not.

Tamil Nadu

Curbs back in temples amid COVID-19 surge

With the sharp rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu, the State government has reintroduced restrictions in temples for the safety of devotees and employees.

Devotees will be allowed only up to a certain point inside the temple, in queues while maintaining adequate physical distancing. No archanais will be performed and prasadam and theertham (holy water) will not be distributed.

The HR and CE Department issued a circular to this effect on Friday to all temples asking them to ensure enforcement of standard operatring procedures, including wearing of masks, frequent use of hand sanitisers, restricting entry of children aged below 10, elders above 60 and pregnant women.

Puducherry

Puducherry shuts schools till May 31 as cases spike

All schools (State Board, CBSE and ICSE) in the Union Territory of Puducherry will remain closed for Classes I to VIII from Monday (March 22) till May 31 in view of the sudden spike in the number of COVID-19 cases.

The decision was taken based on a recommendation by the High Level COVID Vaccine Committee chaired by Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.

P.T. Rudra Goud, Director of School Education, said for Classes 9 to 11, online lessons will be conducted for five days a week from Monday to Friday.

Meanwhile, the U.T. recorded 60 new cases and 24 recoveries on Saturday.