Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday interacted with the chief ministers of various states regarding the COVID-19 situation via video conferencing.
He expressed concern over a rise in COVID-19 cases in parts of the country and called for "quick and decisive" steps to check the "emerging second peak".
Addressing the CMs, PM Modi said that India has put up a strong fight against the Coronavirus so far, and it is being cited as an example in the world, asserting that the country's recovery rate is over 96 percent and fatality rate among the lowest. However, he expressed concern about the high test positivity rate in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
70 districts of the country witnessed a 150% rise in the last few weeks. "If we do not stop it here, then a condition for a nationwide outbreak may emerge," he said and called for quick and decisive steps to stop it.
PM Modi stressed the importance of solving the problems of local governance and warned that the confidence brought by India's fight against the pandemic so far should not cause carelessness.
People should not be put on panic-mode but need to ensure that they get rid of this problem as well, he said.
He asked chief ministers to take measures, including more testing, enforcement of preventive measures as well an increase in the number of vaccination centres to curb the virus.
"Test, track and treat" should be taken as seriously now as it has been for over a year since the outbreak, he added.
The Prime Minister noted the need for provision of micro containment zones. He reiterated that RT PCR tests should make up for over 70 percent of overall Coronavirus testing, while noting that states likes Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha have been mostly dependent on antigen tests.
PM warned to take the problem of vaccine doses wastage very seriously. He noted that the vaccine waste in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to the tune of 10 percent.
He called for increasing the number of vaccination centres and asked to stay vigilant about the vaccine expiry date. 'Dawai bhi aur kadai bhi' insisted the Prime Minister.
The meeting comes a day after when India witnessed a single-day rise of 28,903 new COVID-19 cases. Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a high number of daily new cases. They collectively accounted for 71.10% of the new cases.
