Coronavirus live news updates: At 36,902 cases, Maharashtra sees highest one-day spike; night curfew from March 28

Total recoveries: 1,12,31,650
Active cases: 3,95,192
Death toll: 1,60,692
Total vaccination: 5,31,45,709

With Covid cases rising rapidly again, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) on Wednesday allowed insurers to continue to offer as well as renew standard corona policies. In June 2020, the insurance watchdog had issued guidelines for insurers to roll out standard Covid policies — Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak — by July 10 the same year for those aged 18-65 years. Insurers were permitted to offer these policies till March 31, 2021.

The health ministry on Wednesday expressed grave concern over rapidly increasing Covid cases in Maharashtra and Punjab, followed by Gujarat and MP. Nine of the top10 districts in the country with the most number of active cases are in Maharashtra — Pune (43,590 cases), Nagpur (33,160), Mumbai (26,599), Thane (22,513), Nashik (15,710), Aurangabad (15,380), Nanded (10,106) Jalgaon (6,087) and Akola (5,704). The other district in the top 10 is Bengaluru Urban with 10,766 cases.

There is no risk of thrombosis or blood clotting due to use of Covishield, Niti Aayog member-health Dr V K Paul said on Wednesday and urged people to get vaccinated without any fear. This comes in the wake of concerns about possible adverse events in people vaccinated with Covishield, a vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.