The Supreme Court on Monday directed the governments of Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Assam to submit status reports within two days on the coronavirus situation in their respective states, Live Law reported.

A three-judge bench of Justices RS Reddy, Ashok Bhushan and MR Shah was hearing a suo motu case on Covid-19 treatment and dignified handling of the dead, amid a surge in infections in multiple states, reported Bar and Bench. The court noted that the coronavirus situation in the country was likely to become worse and that all states must be prepared for it.

Noting that the situation in the national Capital has deteriorated in the last two weeks, Bhushan said that the Delhi government has “a lot to answer” and enquired about the measures being taken.

Appearing for the Delhi government, Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain apprised the court about forming of an expert committee, dedicated cremation grounds for Covid-19 fatalities and reservation of beds for patients affected by the virus in private hospitals.

Counsels appearing for Maharashtra, Gujarat and Assam were also asked about the steps taken in the respective states and asked to file affidavits on the status of the pandemic. The matter will now be heard on November 27 after the states file the affidavits on November 26.

Delhi is witnessing an especially worrying increase in cases, amid poor air quality and the intensifying cold weather. The Capital has reported over 5.29 lakh cases and 8,391 deaths so far.

The Delhi government began reinstating coronavirus-related restrictions last week, starting with revising the limit on wedding guests from 200 to 50. The Arvind Kejriwal-led government also increased the fine for not wearing masks in the Capital to Rs 2,000 from Rs 500 to tackle the pandemic.

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Gujarat also had to reimpose night curfew in Ahmedabad to control the infection. Similar curbs were also enforced in in Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara.

Maharashtra, meanwhile, still remains the state with the maximum coronavirus cases and deaths in India. It has reported over 17 lakh infections and 46,623 deaths.

On Sunday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had appealed to the people to not ignore safety norms and spoke about the worsening situation in Delhi and Gujarat. “I don’t want another lockdown, but you should also understand the gravity of the situation,” Thackeray had said.

The Centre on Sunday decided to send high-level teams to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to support them in their pandemic response and management. The government had also sent expert teams to Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Manipur and Chhattisgarh last week.

India’s coronavirus tally rose to 91,39,865 on Monday morning as it reported 44,059 new cases in 24 hours. The toll rose by 511 to 1,33,738. As many as 85,62,641 people have recovered so far.