Here are the Top 10 points in this big story:
"Punjab is neither doing adequate number of tests, nor is isolating infected people properly. Maharashtra has 3.37 lakh active cases. Death has increased from 32 in Feb to 118 now. Karnataka needs to improve testing and isolation," VK Paul said, discussing the situation in the states.
Delhi, taken as one district, is among top 10 COVID-19 high-burden districts. Eight such districts are from Maharashtra, he added.
"We have taken pride that fatality has been low. But the death rate is now at four times -- at 271 from 73. The virus needs to be eliminated," Mr Paul said. "We want to emphasize that without contact tracing, quarantining, isolation etc. we cannot contain the virus," he added.
Denying that there is an Indian variant of the virus, Mr Paul said "There is a concept of virus shift drift and shift. There is no such thing as an Indian strain. It is not a cause to panic". Mutations, he said, are sporadic and "not significant".
The ministry also said the presence of foreign mutant variants of the virus is low. Of the 11,064 genome samples sequenced in 10 national laboratories, the scientists have found 807 cases of the UK variant, 47 South African variant and one of the Brazilian variant so far.
The Centre has told the states that there should be saturation of vaccination for priority age groups in districts that are reporting a surge in cases. As of March 30 morning, 6.11 lakh vaccine doses have been administered.
All private facilities must be utilised optimally for vaccination, Mr Paul said. The facility must have adequate space for waiting, vaccination and observation room. The hospital must have a functional cold chain storage, adequate number of verifier and vaccinators. They must also have facilities to address adverse events following immunization.
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan has said there are seven more COVID-19 vaccine candidates in various stages of clinical trials, and a further two dozen in pre-clinical trials, At present India has two vaccines - AstraZeneca and Oxford University's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.
Both Covaxin and Covishield are effective against the UK, Brazilian variant of the virus, the government said. Work is on against the South African variant.
More than 68,000 new cases were reported on Monday, the most in a day since October. On Tuesday morning, more than 56,000 fresh cases were reported, taking the country's active caseload to nearly 5.5 lakh.
What Is A Tripledemic? Lookout For These Three Viruses That Cause Severe Respiratory Health Issues New XEC Covid Variant Spreads To 27 Countries, Here's What We Know So Far Study Shows How Long Covid Is Debilitating Children's Health Heads Severed, Body Parts On Road: Party Ends In Deadly Crash For 6 Friends The Last Few Hours Before 6 Dehradun Friends Died In Horrific Car Crash Elon Musk's DOGE Hiring Campaign: 80+ Hours A Week With No Pay 2 Drunk Soldiers Caught Having Sex Inside Rs 75 Crore Military Chopper In UK Delhi To Have 106 Extra Buses, 60 Metro Trips To Combat Air Pollution 'Political Interference': Jay Shah On Pak's Champions Trophy Tour In PoK Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.