Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat have shown a surge in new Covid-19 cases. These six states are currently contributing to 87.25 percent of the fresh infections in the country, the Union health ministry said on Monday.

Maharashtra reported over 8,293 fresh Covid-19 cases for the fourth consecutive day. Meanwhile, Kerala reported 3,254 fresh coronavirus cases followed by Punjab with 579 new cases.

Maharashtra alone accounts for 46.39 percent of India's total active cases, followed by Kerala with 29.49 percent.

"A total of 15 states and Union Territories have registered more than 1,000 active cases. Kerala and Maharashtra are the two states with over 10,000 active cases, while the rest of the 13 states and UTs have between 1,000-10,000 active cases," the ministry said.

Meanwhile, India reported 15,510 new Covid-19 cases and 106 deaths during the 24 hours. With this, the active coronavirus caseload in the country has gone up 1,68,627. This marks a significant dip in fresh infections as the country had been clocking in over 16,000 cases in the last week.

The total number of cases with the UK, South Africa, and Brazil variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the country as of date has reached 213, the ministry added.

India began the second phase of its Covid-19 vaccination programme for people above 60 years of age and those above 45 years of age with comorbidities on Monday. In the previous phase of Covid-19 vaccination, armed forces and police personnel were included besides the health workers under the vaccination programme.