Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called a virtual meeting of Chief Ministers on March 17, in view of the rising cases of COVID-19 in the country. The virtual meeting will begin at 11 am on Wednesday. During the meeting, among other topics, effective management of the vaccination programme to tackle COVID-19 will be discussed with the Chief Ministers.
In the past, too, Prime Minister Modi has held meetings with Chief Ministers several times during the COVID-19 period through video conferencing and discussed strategies for the prevention of the global pandemic.
In the meeting to be held on March 17, feedback and suggestions about the ground situation in the respective states will be taken from the Chief Ministers. Based on the suggestions, a strategy will be prepared to stop the resurgence of coronavirus cases in the country.
Official sources said PM Modi will hold a video conference to discuss the issues with chief ministers, an exercise which he has been holding regularly since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Modi's last interaction with chief ministers was in January before the vaccination roll-out. He had announced that the Centre will bear the expenses of vaccinating nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers in the first round and suggested that public representatives, a reference to politicians, should not be part of this initial exercise. The drive has now moved on to the next round to cover people over 60 years of age, and those aged above 45 years who have comorbidities.
India recorded 26,291 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, its highest single-day spike in 85 days. At present, the number of active coronavirus cases in the country stands at 2,19,262, while the total number of coronavirus cases recorded in the country to date stands at 1,13,85,339, according to Union health ministry data.
On Monday, addressing the media, Karnataka Chief Minister told the media that measures to tackle the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the state will be taken after the Chief Ministers’ meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
(With PTI inputs)