State govts to decide on imposing stringent curbs if positivity crosses 10%: Niti Aayog

These are indicative guidelines and states could take their own decision to stop the spread of the virus.

The government has asked state governments and Union Territories to impose intense restrictions in areas, cities, towns or any geography where Covid-19 test positivity rate had crossed 10% or oxygen beds and ICU beds occupancy in hospitals cross 60% capacity level.

V K Paul, member health, Niti Aayog, said on Monday that they had left it to the states to identify and impose intensive containment. All political, social and religious gathering, marketplaces and entertainment spaces should be shut, Paul suggested. These are indicative guidelines and states could take their own decision to stop the spread of the virus.

The time has come to wear masks not only out but also at home, Paul said. He urged people to not go out and not invite anyone home as the virus had a high transmission rate. If there were visitors or any one positive then it was advisable wear masks at home, he said.

Almost all the states in the country had crossed the peaks seen in the first wave with a steep rise in daily new cases in the second wave reaching 3,52,991 on Monday, Luv Agarwal, joint secretary, ministry of health and family welfare said. The growth trajectory in all states was a cause of concern, Agarwal said.

Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan had both seen a five times jump in daily cases while Rajasthan reported a 4.8x increase in cases. Delhi, Karnataka, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal was seeing more than 3x rise in cases while Maharashtra has more than doubled its cases.

The country had 28,13,658 active cases with 1,95,123 deaths so far.

Maharashtra continued to lead active cases and crossed the seven-lakh mark while Uttar Pradesh reported 2,97,616 cases.

Karnataka had 2.62 lakh active cases followed by Kerala at 2.19 lakh cases. Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to clock one lakh plus active case.

Total vaccination in the country reached 14.19 crore with 1.03 crore people above 45 years getting both the doses.