PM to interact with CMs on Thursday over COVID situation, vaccination drive

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting on April 8 with chief ministers of all the states and Union Territories to discuss the current status of the Covid-19 pandemic in the nation along with issues related to vaccination via video conferencing, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said on Monday.

This will be the second time in five days that the Prime Minister is going to chair a meeting to assess the current situation with connection to the surge in the number of Covid-19 cases.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of 103,558 fresh cases of the infection on Monday – the highest India has reported since the beginning of the pandemic. This took the number of total cases in the country to 12,589,067.

At the last meeting on Sunday, the Prime Minister decided to send officials to Maharashtra, Punjab and Chhattisgarh – three states which continue to report a surge in the number of daily cases – to address the issues related to the recent spike in infections. PM Modi also instructed officials present in the meeting to ensure strict implementation of the five-fold strategy of – testing, tracing, treatment, and following Covid-appropriate behaviour and vaccination.

Union health minister Harsh Vardhan is also scheduled to meet health ministers of 11 states and union territories on Tuesday to discuss the current spike in the number of daily cases and vaccination-related issues, reported earlier in the day citing people familiar with the developments.

India’s daily caseload which recorded a gradual decline after September 17 last year witnessed a surge over the past week with over 1 lakh fresh Covid-19 cases being reported on Monday. Maharashtra has reported a continual rise in the number of daily cases and remains one of the main contributors to the daily spike reported across the nation. The other badly-hit states are: Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)