The Centre on Monday said Maharashtra alone accounts for 46.39% of India’s total active coronavirus cases. Of the 15,510 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours, the state contributed 8,293 infections, it said. Sunday was the fifth consecutive day when Maharashtra’s daily infection count was more than 8,000, in a trend experts have connected to the reopening of schools and suburban train services in Mumbai.

The health ministry also flagged that five other states – Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat – have also shown infection surge in the past 24 hours. It further said that Maharashtra and Kerala were the only two states with more than 10,000 active cases currently. Kerala follows Maharashtra with 29.49% of India’s active cases.

The government said it was constantly in touch with the states and Union Territories reporting a resurgence of cases. “States/UTs have been advised to maintain a continued rigorous vigil for containing the spread of Covid-19,” a statement said. “Need for effective testing, comprehensive tracking, prompt isolation of positive cases and quick quarantine of close contacts are strongly emphasised.”

The health ministry also noted that 20 states and Union Territories have not reported coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours. This includes Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Assam, Manipur, Sikkim, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Ladakh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Uttarakhand and Daman and Diu.

Meanwhile, the government said 19 new cases of the United Kingdom, South African and Brazilian strains of the coronavirus have been found in India, NDTV reported. With this, the total number of infections of the mutant variants has risen to 213.

Fears have been heightened by the appearance of new strains of the virus in parts of the country. However, the health ministry has refused to link the mutations to the surge in cases in some states.