PM Modi has had several such meetings with chief ministers since last year (File)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called a meeting with all chief ministers to discuss the upsurge in coronavirus cases in several states. The virtual interaction will take place at 12.30 pm on Wednesday, sources said.
This comes as the country - which had been reporting around 10,000 daily Covid cases earlier this year - on Monday logged 26,291 cases, which is its highest single-day spike in 85 days.
The number of deaths due to the disease increased to 1,58,725 with 118 fatalities being recorded in 24 hours.
India currently has 2,19,262 active cases, which is 1.93 per cent of total infections in the country. The recovery rate has dropped to 96.68 per cent.
The surge in the country's daily coronavirus levels is led by five states that have reported 78.41 per cent of the total new cases, the Union Health Ministry said this morning. These states are Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
Maharashtra, the worst-hit state in the country, alone accounts for over 63 per cent of these cases, it said.
"A rising trajectory of daily new cases is visible in eight states. These are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana," the ministry said on Monday.
Kerala has a consistently declining trend over the last one month, it added.
PM Modi has had several meetings over the coronavirus situation with chief ministers since last March. His last meeting was in January to discuss vaccine rollout.
The meeting over the surge comes days after Union Minister Harsh Vardhan claimed the country was "in the end game of the COVID-19 pandemic".
After the statement, Indian Medical Association had cautioned politicians and the government about invoking a "false sense of security".
With inputs from PTI