New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to meet chief ministers Wednesday to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the country.
While cases are on the rise in only a handful of states, there are fears of a second wave and the meeting is meant to ensure that the state governments are prepared well ahead of time.
Over the last 24 hours, 26,291 cases were reported across the country — the highest daily number in 2021.
Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a surge in daily Covid cases. These states cumulatively account for 78.41 per cent of the new cases reported in the last 24 hours.
India currently has 2,19,262 active cases — with Kerala, Punjab and Maharashtra accounting for 77 per cent of them.
The last time active cases were above 2 lakh was on 18 January when India had 2,00,528 active cases.
PM to discourage knee-jerk measures in states
“The current numbers are concentrated in some states but if you look at the trajectory of the disease, during the first wave too some states and some districts showed a spurt earlier than others but eventually it washed over the entire country,” explained a senior health ministry official while talking about the prime minister’s upcoming meeting.
“It is time to reiterate to the states the importance of measures like keeping the positivity rate below five per cent, active case finding and contact tracing and to ensure that people who do not need hospital care stay at home while also ensuring that when they deteriorate, they reach hospitals on time,” the official added.
There is also discomfort in the central government about measures like night curfews and weekend lockdowns.
In Maharashtra, Aurangabad has started weekend lockdowns while there is night curfew in Latur. The thinking in the government of India is that neither measure is too effective in breaking the chain of transmission and instead only hurts the economy more. Modi is also expected to discourage states from such knee-jerk measures.
Also read: Reasons behind Maharashtra’s disastrous Covid showing dragging the India story down
Wednesday means they are not serious and want their narcissistic control on vaccination with glory of 2 Million everyday. This approach has been hallmark of the past many years.