India has reported over 1.1 crore coronavirus cases since the pandemic began in December 2019 (File)
A meeting was held at the Prime Minister's Office today to review the coronavirus situation in the country amid a surge in cases over the past few days, and amid concerns mutated strains - those that originated abroad and in India, are more infectious - may be circulating in the country.
Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan was among those who attended the meeting.
The spike in Covid numbers in some states comes as 240 new strains of the virus have emerged across the country; Dr Shahshank Joshi, a member of Maharashtra's Covid Task Force, told NDTV last week that the new strains could be the reason for an increase in cases in that state.
Apart from Maharashtra, four other states - Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Punjab - have been witnessing a spike in numbers, the centre has said.
Health Ministry sources said this morning that between 800 and 900 samples - from Maharashtra and Kerala - had been sent for genome sequencing in the past month.
Samples for genome sequencing - to understand the complete genetics of the virus - have also been sought from Punjab and Bengaluru, where, in the past few days alone, two apartment complexes have been declared "containment zones" and sealed.
So far genome sequencing of nearly 6,000 samples have been completed.
While authorities are still not sure how many of these new cases (if any, at all) are from the new mutated strains of the virus, government officials have admitted India's genome sequencing has been below the mark so far, and that this needs to change in the coming weeks.
Last week the centre warned the aforementioned states that they must continue to practice Covid-appropriate behaviour, including the use of face masks and social distancing in public.
Alarmed by the rise in cases Maharashtra has re-imposed restrictions in Amravati and Yavatmal districts, as well as warning Mumbai of a new lockdown if people fail to follow orders.
India has, so far, reported 187 cases of the UK strain of the virus. The South African strain has been detected in six people and the Brazil variant in one.
There are around 1.47 lakh active coronavirus cases in the country, according to government data released this morning. The total number of cases reported since the pandemic began in China in December 2019 is now over 1.10 crore, with 1.56 lakh deaths linked to the virus.
Maharashtra and Kerala continue to be the worst-affected states and among a handful seeing a surge in new cases that has worried the centre. Maharashtra has reported over 5,200 new cases in 24 hours, while Kerala has detected over 2,200.