Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conference with chief ministers on Monday, about a week before the third phase of lockdown ends.
PM Modi said at the meeting that the government will have to think about moving forward and talked about a holistic approach.
“In this entire fight, the world has said that we have been successful in fighting the threat of Covid-19. State governments have played a major role in this fight. They have understood their responsibility and served their roles in countering this threat,” the Prime Minister said.
“We stressed that people should stay where they are. But it’s human nature to want to go home and so we had to modify or change our decisions. Despite that, we have to make sure that the disease doesn’t spread and go to villages, that’s our big challenge,” he added talking about the movement of migrants.
This is PM Modi’s fifth video-conference with the chief ministers on tackling the Covid-19 outbreak.
Home Minister Amit Shah, who was also present in the meeting, highlighted the importance of the Aarogya Setu mobile application and urged the chief ministers to popularise its download as it will help in tracking the spread of the virus.
At the previous meetings, the Prime Minister has taken suggestions from chief ministers on the contours and extension of the national lockdown, put in place to check the spread of infections.
Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba met state chief secretaries on Sunday and advised them to ensure that “green zones” – areas that are largely Covid-19-free – remain insulated from the spread of the pathogen, according to an official who was present during the interaction and spoke on condition of anonymity. The states were also asked to allow unhindered movement of health care workers, the official added.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, meanwhile, said no Covid-19 case has been reported in 10 states and union territories in the last 24 hours (between Satirday and Sunday) and the recovery rate has increased to over 30 per cent, asserting India was “moving fast on the path of success” in the fight against the pandemic.
According to health ministry data, 1,736 Covid-19 patients recovered in the last 24 hours – the highest number of recoveries recorded in one day.
The Union Health ministry on May 1 classified 733 districts as 130 in the red zone, 284 in the orange zone and 319 in the green zone, taking into consideration incidence of cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance feedback.
