New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS): The Health Ministry on Saturday exhorted Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to focus on aggressive measures to break the chain of transmission and to ensure that mortalities are kept below one per cent.

The Centre has been regularly engaging with the States and UTs that have been exhibiting either a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases, high caseload or reporting a higher mortality in some districts.

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka account for about 46 per cent of the active cases reported nationally in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra alone accounts for 22 per cent of all active cases reported in the last 24 hours.

These three states also account for 52 per cent of all COVID-19 deaths reported across the country in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra alone accounted for 35 per cent of all deaths reported in the last 24 hours.

The Union Home Ministry also highlighted the districts of concern in each State. In Maharashtra, Pune, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Sangli, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Raigad, Jalgaon, Solapur, Satara and Palghar were highlighted and the need for effective containment and contact tracing was emphasized.

In Andhra Pradesh, Prakasam and Chittoor were highlighted as districts of concern and the need for daily monitoring of facility wise deaths, strengthening of hospital facilities, increasing the number of ICUs, oxygen beds and efficient clinical management was focused upon.

In Karnataka, the highlighted districts of Koppal, Mysuru, Davangere and Bellari were advised to optimally utilize RT-PCR testing facilities, to strengthen their door to door active case search and to protect their healthcare workers.

In cumulative terms, five States account for more than 60 per cent of the total active cases in the country. Maharashtra contributes the maximum to the active case load amounting to almost 25 per cent, followed by Andhra Pradesh (12.06 per cent), Karnataka (11.71 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (6.92 per cent) and Tamil Nadu which stands at 6.10 per cent.

Of the total deaths in the country, 70 per cent were recorded in just the five States of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh. Maharashtra alone accounts for 37.33 per cent of the total deaths.