PM Modi to Meet CMs on Thursday to Discuss COVID-19 Resurgence

PM Narendra Modi. Image used for representation.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@BJP4India)

As India's daily Covid tally secured highest position in the world, surpassing Brazil and the United States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be holding a meeting with the Chief Ministers of states and Union Territories on Thursday, sources said on Monday.

The meeting is scheduled to be organised at 6.30 p.m. on Thursday as India has been reporting an average of 78,489 Covid-19 cases -- a report based on 7-day moving average to visualise the number of new cases of the pandemic.

In the meeting, Prime Minister will discuss the current status of the Covid-19 pandemic across the country along with issues related to the vaccination via video conferencing, and the measures to curb the second wave of the pandemic.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of 1,03,558 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest ever single-day spike since the onset of the pandemic last year, taking the total tally to 1,25,89,067 on Monday.

Taking note of the alarming rate of the spike in Covid-19 cases and deaths in the country with 10 states contributing more than 91 percent of cases, the Prime Minister on Sunday also chaired a high-level meeting and directed that the "mission-mode" approach be continued in states and districts reporting high cases.

He exhorted all the states to take required stringent measures with comprehensive restrictions in places so that the collective gains of Covid management in the country in the last 15 months are not squandered.

It was emphasised that the reasons for the sharper rise in cases could be mainly attributed to the severe decline in compliance of Covid-appropriate behaviour, primarily in terms of use of masks and maintaining ‘2 Gaj ki Doori’, pandemic fatigue and lack of effective implementation of containment measures at the field level.

In a meeting with Chief Ministers of states and UTs on 17 March, the Prime Minister had said that India needs to take quick and decisive steps soon to stop an emerging second peak of Covid-19 infections, and that "There should be daily monitoring. More beneficiaries should be mobilised to stop wastage."

Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Haryana have been deemed states of "grave concern".

The active cases have currently increased to 7,41,830 comprising 5.89 percent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 92.80 per cent.

On Monday, the death toll increased to 1,65,101 with 478 new fatalities.

The number of people who have recovered from the disease surged to 1,16,82,136, while the case fatality rate stood at 1.31 percent, according to official data.

The Centre has advised high-burden states and union territories to take stringent measures for containment of the surge.

So far, 7.91 crore doses of corona vaccine have been administered in the country since the drive began on 16 January.

(This story has been published in an arrangement with IANS)