PM Modi interacts with CMs as Covid-19 cases in India soar; 1st meeting of year

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday interacted with the chief ministers of all states and Union territories, as decided before, to take stock of the present Covid-19 situation of the country.

This is the first meeting of PM Modi with the chief ministers this year. Earlier, PM Modi interacted with the health ministry officials and asked them to strengthen the ongoing vaccination drive.

The meeting comes on a day when India reported over 2.47 lakh fresh infections in a massive 24-hour surge. The sharp increase took India’s active tally to 11.1 lakh.

Since the last week of December, the Covid-19 situation in India started worsening with metro cities reporting a sudden increase in the daily number of cases. The rise snowballed into what experts are calling the third wave of the pandemic, the peak of which is expected later this month. Omicron, the variant first detected in South Africa in November 2021, is driving the surge of the pandemic as Delta, which caused the second wave in India, is being replaced by Omicron.

Omicron, the variant which reportedly multiplies in the throat, leads to less severe disease as its impact on the lungs is believed to be minimum. However, experts around the world have alerted against taking Omicron lightly and said that Omicron is equally fatal to people who are not vaccinated and those with comorbidities.

India has started vaccinating its teens between the age of 12 and 18 years, and also the senior citizens who have comorbidities.