New Delhi

Six states - Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu - continue to report a surge in daily COVID-19 cases. They cumulatively accounted for 85.6 per cent of the new cases reported in the past 24 hours, said an official release from the health ministry on Friday.

 23,285 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours across the country. 117 deaths were reported in the said period.

 According to the statement issued by the health ministry, Maharashtra reported the highest daily new cases at 14,317, which is 61.48 per cent of the daily new cases reported in the country in the past 24 hours. It is followed by Kerala with 2,133 while Punjab reported 1,305 new cases.

 Eight states -- Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana -- have been witnessing an upward trajectory in daily new cases and the active caseload now stands at 1.74 per cent of India's total positive cases.

Five states cumulatively account for 82.96 per cent of the total active cases in the country. Two states -- Maharashtra and Kerala -- account for 71.69 per cent of the country's total active cases.

Five states -- Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Punjab, Kerala, and Maharashtra -- are accountable for 83 per cent of total active cases in the country.

The central government is actively engaging with all state and union territory governments, especially those showing an upsurge in daily new cases and with a high caseload of active cases. The Centre is reviewing the status of COVID-19 containment and public health measures with them.

Recently, the Centre had rushed high-level public health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab to assist in COVID-19 control and containment measures.

Meanwhile, more than 2.61 crore vaccine doses have been administered through 4,87,919 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am on Friday.