New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today stressed on the need for taking measures to stop the emerging second peak of coronavirus and urged to take quick and decisive steps to curb the spread.
PM Modi was addressing a virtual meeting with Chief Ministers of states, which was held to discuss the spike in Covid-19 cases and the ongoing vaccination drive.
“Cases have suddenly started increasing in some states. The respective chief ministers have also expressed concern. The positivity rate in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh is very high,” said PM Modi, adding that even as the vaccination drive is underway, some states have had to impose lockdowns in several districts.
“A rise is being seen in many districts that had protected themselves so far and were considered safe-zones. Seventy districts of the country have seen an increase of more than 150 percent in the last few weeks. If we don’t stop it here, a situation of a nationwide outbreak can come up,” he said.
PM Modi stated that we must increase RT-PCR testing in the country to control Covid spread.
He also emphasised on being equally serious about ‘Test, Track and Treat’ as we have been doing it for the last one year.
The Prime Minister said that where we have reached today in our fight against coronavirus, the confidence that came from it, should not be turned into carelessness.
“We don’t have to bring the public into panic mode. We don’t have to bring a situation where there is an atmosphere of fear. We have to free the people of the difficulties by taking some precautions and initiatives,” he said.
During the meeting, he noted that the pace of vaccination in the country is continuously increasing.
“We have also crossed the figure of vaccinating 3 million people in a single day. But at the same time we also have to deal with the problem of wastage of vaccine doses very seriously,” he said.
He appealed to the Chief Ministers to focus on creating micro containment zones to control the spread of the virus.
The Prime Minister’s last interaction with all the CMs was held in January this year before the launch of the world’s largest vaccination drive.
-CHK
