New Delhi: India recorded 53,476 COVID-19 cases, highest single-day spike since October taking the total tally to 1,17,87,534 on Thursday.

According to the Health Ministry, Maharashtra and Punjab are turning out to be a major cause of worry. Cases have been increasing over the last two weeks. On October 22 last year, India recorded a single-day spike of 54,366 infections. The central government is closely monitoring and actively engaging with states and union territories over the resurge. With death of 251 people in the last 24 hours, the toll has reached 1,60,692 in India. The active caseload in the country has mounted to 3,95,192.

With the discharge of 26,490 patients in a day, a total of 1,12,31,650 persons have been discharged so far. A total of 10,65,021 tests were done on Wednesday. So far, 5.31 crore doses of corona vaccine have been administered in the country since the drive began on January 16 after approval for 'Covishield' and 'Covaxin'.

Now, those over 45 years of age will also get Covid-19 vaccine from April 1, irrespective of the co-morbidities, the Central Government has announced.

On Wednesday, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan during the briefing said that out of the top 10 COVID-19 infected districts, nine are in Maharashtra. The top 10 affected districts are: Pune (43,590 cases), Nagpur (33,160), Mumbai (26,599), Thane (22,513), Nashik (15,710), Aurangabad (15,380), Bengaluru Urban (10,766), Nanded (10,106), Jalgaon (6,087) and Akola (5,704).

Two states in the country have shown a recent spurt in spread of infection - Maharashtra (that reported more than 28,000 cases in one day) and Punjab are of grave concern, he expressed. While explaining about the deaths in people above 45 he said, “Of the total COVID-19 death that took place in India, 88 per cent were in age group of people above 45 years.”

(With inputs from IANS)