Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with the chief ministers of 10 states on Tuesday, 11 August, to chart out a plan to tackle the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country.
The meeting was attended by chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh.
During his meeting with the chief ministers, PM Modi said that a view has emerged that if we defeat the coronavirus in 10 states, the nation will also win.
“Experts now say if we identify COVID-19 cases within 72 hours of onset, then infection slows down to a great extent. Our experience so far is that containment, contact tracing and surveillance are most effective weapons against COVID-19.”Prime Minister Modi
“Every state is fighting the battle against the challenging situation arising due to COVID19 pandemic. Role of each and every state is very significant in overall control of the spread of the disease,” ANI quoted PM Modi as saying.
The PM added that the average fatality rate has been continuously decreasing while the recovery rate is increasing every day, this shows that measures being taken by us are in the right direction.
The meeting took place as the country recorded a spike of 53,601 coronavirus cases on Tuesday. The total number of cases stands at 22,68,675 and the death toll is 45,257. Among the 22,68,675 cases regist ered in India so far, close to 6.4 lakh cases are still active.
West Bengal’s Requests
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in the meeting, raised the topic of West Bengal’s financial dues from the centre, reported The New Indian Express.
The chief minister also asked PM Modi to ensure that guidelines are issued on which vaccine to be procured in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
"The central government has raised the FRBM limit from three percent to five percent but only 0.5 percent out of the increased 2 per ent has been made unconditional,” said Mamata Banerjee, requesting that the remaining 1.5 percent is also made unconditional by the central government for one year, reported The New Indian Express.
“Besides this, the state is still to receive Rs 4135 crore towards GST compensation and overall outstanding dues of Rs 53,000 crore from the central government.”Mamata Banerjee
Banerjee reportedly asked the Centre for guidelines on vaccine procurement, and also requested them to provide West Bengal with more high flow nasal canulas and ventilators.
What Other CMs Said
According to NDTV, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami reportedly requested the centre to fund 50 percent of the cost of RT-PCR tests done for detecting COVID-19 and also finance the procurement of high-end ventilators.
Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, in his part, reportedly asked PM Modi for a liberal financial package to fill the revenue collection gap caused by the 19 pandemic.
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