Prime Minister Modi is holding a high-level meeting with senior officials. (File photo)
New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a high-level meeting to review Covid-related issues, including the ongoing vaccination campaign in the country, as the infection is seeing an increase. All senior officials, including the cabinet secretary, the prime minister’s chief secretary and the health secretary, are participating in the meeting.
Over the past 24 hours, the country experienced the largest daily increase in Covid cases since mid-September, with 93,249 fresh infections, bringing the count to more than 1.24 million rupees.
This is the highest since September 19, when 93,337 cases were registered.
The health ministry has said that eight states account for 81.42 percent
of infections reported in the last 24 hours. The states are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh.
The Center has already called on states to crack down on security measures among the masses, including wearing masks and social distancing. Increasing laxity in the implementation of security measures is the reason for the current spike, he argues, although scientists have pointed to the proliferation of mutant strains.
Dr Randeep Guleria, Director of Delhi’s Indian Institute of Medical Sciences and a prominent member of the government’s Covid Task Force, said it is time to implement a wider range of measures, including containment zones, lockdown areas, increased testing, tracking and isolation.
Previously, Dr. Guleria had said that mutant strains are partly responsible for the increase.
Now he said there is a need to have more genome sequencing and that the data must be compared with epidemiological data from the field to identify particular areas where the increase is occurring.
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