'Need to identify mutants of Covid and assess their effects': PM tells CMs

States like Kerala, UP, Chhattisgarh overly dependent on antigen tests; RT PCR tests should make for over 70% of overall testing, says PM

At his meeting with chief ministers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed concern over rising coronavirus cases in the some states and called for "quick and decisive steps".

"India's fight against Covid is being cited as an example in world, our recovery rate is over 96% and fatality rate among the lowest," Modi told CMs. 

"We will have to stop the emerging second peak of coronavirus immediately," said Modi at the virtual interaction with state chief ministers over the pandemic situation and the ongoing vaccination drive. Modi said in states like Maharashtra, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh the number of Covid cases has seen a rise while nearly 70 districts in the country have have seen an increase in the positivity rate by over 150 per cent of late.

"Most of the COVID-affected countries in 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. Test positivity rate in Maharashtra and MP is very high and number of cases are also rising," said Modi after the meeting. 

"Such an increase is being seen in many districts that had protected themselves so far and were kind of safe-zones. 70 districts of the country have seen an increase of more than 150% in new Covid cases last few weeks. If we don't stop it here, a situation of nationwide outbreak can come up. We need to identify mutants of coronavirus and assess their effects," said Modi.

"If we do not stop it here, then a condition for a nationwide outbreak may emerge," he said and called for quick and decisive steps to stop it. The confidence brought by India's fight against the pandemic so far should not cause carelessness, he said, and asked chief ministers to take measures, including more testing, enforcement of preventive measures as well as increase in number of vaccination centres to curb the virus.

Prime Minister also touched upon issues of governance when it comes to vaccine administration and called for more vaccination centres and asked CMs to also come up with micro-containment zones wherever necessary. PM Modi called for ramping up Covid testing in smaller townn and warned CMs of spread of Coronavirus in villages.States like Kerala, UP, Chhattisgarh overly dependent on antigen tests; RT PCR tests should make for over 70% of overall testing, said PM. People should not be put on panic-mode but need to ensure that they get rid of this problem as well, he said. "Test, track and treat" should be taken as seriously now as it has been for over a year since the outbreak, he added.

Modi lauded the continually increased pace of vaccination in the country and the vaccination rates crossing more than 3 million vaccinations in a single day. But at the same time he warned to take the problem of vaccine doses wastage very seriously. 

"Over 10% vaccine wastage in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Vaccine wastage in UP is almost the same. It should be reviewed in states that why vaccine wastage is happening. Monitoring must be done every evening and pro-active people should be contacted so that there's no wastage. 
 

"It is a matter of contemplation that why is there less testing in some areas only. Why is there less vaccination in these areas? I think it's a time of test for good governance. Our confidence should not turn into over-confidence. Our success should not turn into negligence. We don't have to bring the public into panic mode. We don't have to bring a situation where there is an atmosphere of fear. We have to free the people off difficulties by taking some precautions and initiatives," Modi further said. 

The Prime Minister urged CMs to increase testing and to pay special attention to the "referral system" and "ambulance network" in small cities. He said this is because now the whole country has opened up for travel and the number of people travelling has also increased. He stressed on the need for a new mechanism for sharing information among themselves. Similarly, responsibility of following the SOP for surveillance of the contacts of the travelers coming from abroad have also increased.

As many as 28,903 new Covid-19 cases and 17,741 recoveries were reported in India in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Wednesday.

With the addition of fresh infections, the total cases in the country reached 1,14,38,734, including 2,34,406 active cases and 1,10,45,284 recoveries.

The death toll stands at 1,59,044 including 188 fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours.