Must prevent 3rd wave: PM to 6 states with high Covid cases

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 16

With the rate of decline in daily Covid-19 cases slowing and reproductive factor of the virus rising gradually across India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday told the Chief Ministers of six highest-burden states to work proactively to prevent a possible third wave.

The PM’s meeting with the CMs of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra and Kerala came a day after the WHO issued an emergency alert about rapid resurgence in Covid cases across the world.

Inaugurates revamped Gandhinagar rly station

Drawing comparison between airports and railway stations and bus terminuses, the PM on Friday said building of modern infrastructure had traditionally betrayed a class bias in India. Inaugurating the renovated state-of-the-art Gandhinagar Railway Station virtually from Delhi, the PM said he would like to see train passengers enjoy facilities similar to those at airports. TNS

The WHO has said cases are again rising globally and daily infections are nearing 5.63 lakh as of today, climbing up towards the 9 lakh a day mark witnessed at the height of the second wave on April 29 this year.

The PM described as “grave worry” the rising infections in Kerala and Maharashtra and said, “Initially experts believed that states where the second wave originated will see the normalisation first. However, increasing numbers in Kerala and Maharashtra are a cause of grave worry.”

These six states have 80 per cent of all Covid cases reported in July and 84 per cent of all deaths.

Warning the CMs that similar trends were seen in January-February before the second wave, the PM said “proactive measures are needed to prevent the possibility of the third wave”.

Coining the strategy of 4 Ts —Test, Track, Treat and Teeka (vaccination), the PM said states must enforce micro-containment zones, use the emergency response package of over Rs 23,000 crore announced recently to ramp up medical infrastructure and ensure arrangements to protect the paediatric population.

Out of 332 pressure swing absorption plants allocated to the states present in the meeting, 53 have been commissioned so far.

“Completion of these plants should be expedited,” the PM said, adding that the rise in the number of cases in Europe, America, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand and other countries must “alert India”.