Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to hold a meeting with chief ministers of all states and UTs on March 17 via video-conferencing. The primary agenda of this virtual meeting will be the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in different parts of the country.

Meanwhile, a central team has warned that Maharashtra is at the "beginning" of a second Covid-19 wave prompting the Union government to tell the worst hit state on Tuesday to focus on strict containment strategies even as India recorded over 20,000 coronavirus cases for the sixth consecutive day. "Maharashtra is in the beginning of a second wave of Covid-19 pandemic," according to the central team report.