NEW DELHI: As India records this year’s highest single-day tally of fresh Covid-19 cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold a virtual meet with all chief ministers on Wednesday to discuss the prevailing Covid-19 situation in the country.
The meeting comes amidst a surge in Covid-19 cases in several states even as the nationwide vaccination drive is underway.
PM Modi’s last interaction with chief ministers was in January before the vaccination roll-out. Here is a look at pandemic-related concerns India needs to address:
India records highest single-day spike of the year
India recorded 28,903 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday marking the highest single-day tally this year, taking the total Covid-19 tally to 1,14,38,734, according to the health ministry data.

The death toll increased to 1,59,044 with 188 new fatalities, the highest in around two months, the data updated at 8 am showed.

India’s vaccination drive ‘too slow’
As many as 3,50,64,536 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered so far.
However, vaccinating more than 3 crore people which is less than 1 per cent of the population, in two months is not fast enough, according to a parliamentary panel.
Expressing concern over a large number of people missing the second dose, the panel emphasized the need to cover maximum people as early as possible in the ongoing vaccination drive, which started on January 16.
Surge in 5 states account for 71% cases
The latest surge in Covid-19 cases in India is dominated by five states.
Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu collectively account for 71.1 per cent of the 28,903 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, as per the ministry data.

Maharashtra alone accounts for 61.8 per cent of the daily new cases with 17,864 cases. It is followed by Kerala with 1,970 while Punjab reported 1,463 new cases.
No Covid-19 death in 15 states
On the other hand, 15 states/UTs have not reported any Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours. These are Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu, Nagaland, Tripura, Ladakh, Manipur, Mizoram, A&N Islands & Arunachal Pradesh.
(With inputs from agencies)