Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, asked chief ministers of all states and UTs (Union Territories) to take strict action needed to contain India's COVID-19 situation.
Interacting with heads of states during a virtual meeting, PM Modi proposed micro-zoning of containment areas instead of imposing a general lockdown. The prime minister also asked heads of states to focus on scaling up testing and contact tracing to contain the spread of coronavirus.
"The presentation given today gives a clear indication about the different waves [of COVID-19]. In India, we are witnessing a surge in a few states like Maharashtra and Punjab. In Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, the COVID positivity rate is increasing. 70 districts are showing an increasing trend. If we can't control this, the country can witness a second wave [of COVID-19]. Therefore, strict action is required," he said.
Regarding SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) violation and less testing, PM Modi told CMs, "In several districts, we are witnessing the ignorance of SOP and masks. Also, testing and vaccination are less in few states, which is a matter of concern. There should be no over-confidence or any sort of panic. We need precautions to create an environment for vaccination. Our machinery has settled in the last year and we need to utilise this. Strict containment, surveillance, testing, tracing, and awareness is required."
The prime minister added that there should be "no over-confidence or any sort of panic" and that the states need to create awareness among people about COVID-19 vaccination.
"The vaccination rate is increasing. We touched 30 lakh vaccination in a day. We need to focus on the wastage of vaccines. We are getting reports of vaccine lapse from states like Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. There's a need to create awareness among people about vaccination. It seems that few vaccine centres are not active. We also need to monitor the vaccine expiry dates. So, frontline workers need to keep an eye on that as well to stop wastage," PM Modi said on the vaccination drive in the country.
He further stated that states need to immediately stop the emerging second wave of the coronavirus pandemic to bring the situation under control.
"Most of the Covid-affected countries in the world had to face several waves of coronavirus. In our country too, cases have suddenly started increasing in some states. CMs have also expressed concern over the surge. The test positivity rate in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh MP is very high and the number of cases is also rising," PM Modi said.
"We will have to immediately stop the emerging second wave of coronavirus and for this, we will have to take quick and decisive steps," he added.