NEW DELHI: The coronavirus Covid-19 ) positive cases surged in India on Sunday to 396 -- the highest increase of 81 over 24 hours so far.Till last week, the highest single day increase was 50 cases. As the number of deaths and active cases increased, the Centre directed states to initiate lockdown in districts that had reported Covid-19 cases. Speaking to reporters, Joint Secretary (Health) Lav Agarwal said, "The states have been asked to initiate lockdown in 75 districts. This number will be revised as the situation is developing."The Centre has asked all state governments to designate hospitals for treatment of Covid-19 patients. Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava said, “After our discussions with the state health secretaries, it has been decided that patients would get better care if one facility is designated for treatment of Covid-19 patients. Like National Cancer Institute (Jhajjar) under AIIMS is an 800-bed hospital and will be designated for Covid care.” The government’s steps have came based on discussions where doctors felt that India needed to “break the chain of transmission”. “We can only break this chain of transmission by isolating people who have come from abroad” Bhargava added.