Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to chair an all-party meeting on December 4 to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the country, a person familiar with these details said.
The Prime Minister will meet with the leaders of all parties to assess the situation on the ground; However, it is not clear if the meeting will take place in person or via video conference.
The meeting comes shortly after the Prime Minister’s meeting with a group of chief ministers that was held on November 24. At that meeting, the Prime Minister had underlined the need to collectively curb the transmission of the Covid-19 virus and bring the positivity rate below 5%.
The Prime Minister had reiterated the need to protect against the spread of the virus and had called on states to establish working groups or steering committees at the district and block level to prepare the vaccination program.
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According to another person, at the all-party meeting, the prime minister is likely to address the issue of the government’s preparation for the launch of the Covid-19 vaccine. The prime minister already met with three teams that are involved in the development of the Covid-19 vaccine via video conference last week. On Monday, he interacted with three other teams: Gennova Biopharma, Biological E, and Dr Reddy’s.
Last week, the Union Ministry of the Interior also published guidelines for surveillance and containment during the ongoing pandemic with a view to consolidating the gains that have been made against the spread of the virus. The new guidelines, which will go into effect on December 1, empower states to impose local restrictions, including night curfew, to control the spread of the virus.
In April, the Prime Minister had interacted with floor leaders from all parties via video conference. At that meeting, he had suggested that it might be necessary to extend the 21-day lockdown that was imposed in March and had spoken about the government’s priority to save lives.
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