Take decisive steps to stop "second peak" of Corona, PM to states

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday held a meeting with the chief ministers of states and Union territories as alarm grows over the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in India. He asked states  to take quick and decisive steps soon to stop an emerging second peak of Covid infections. He warned that a countrywide outbreak can occur if this growing pandemic is not stopped now. expressed concern about the high test positivity rate in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and rising cases in Punjab. 70 districts of the country witnessed 150 percent rise in the last few weeks.

The Prime Minister said that more than 96 percent of the cases in India have recovered and India is having one of the lowest fatality rates in the world. He highlighted some local administrations were not very strict in ensuring the wearing of masks. The issues must be resolved. It is also to be seen why in some places, testing and vaccination rates are low. Modi said it is very important to track every infected person's contacts in the shortest time and keep the RT-PCR test rate above 70 percent. He insisted on more RT-PCR tests in states which give more emphasis to Rapid antigen tests like Kerala, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.

Modi remarked that there is a need to identify mutants of coronavirus and assess their effects. He lauded the continually increased pace of vaccination in the country and the vaccination rates crossing more than 3 million vaccinations in a single day. He also warned to take the problem of vaccine doses wastage very seriously. He noted the vaccine waste in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to the tune of 10 percent. He urged to immediately correct the drawbacks of planning and governance at the local level to reduce vaccine waste. The challenge of maintaining Covid appropriate behaviour in the general public was also discussed, in light of the recent rise in the number of cases in some states. The Chief Ministers agreed on the requirement of greater vigilance and monitoring of the situation.