Stricter COVID-19 curbs on cards? PM Modi to chair high-level meeting with CMs today
Amid the rising COVID-19 cases across the entire country over the past two weeks, it is likely that a fresh set of guidelines will be issued to curb the spread of the virus soon, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a high-level review meeting today.
According to ANI reports, PM Modi will be chairing a high-level review meeting regarding the COVID-19 situation across the country with the chief ministers of states and top-level health officials. It is likely that Union Health Ministry officials will also be present in the meeting.
The meeting will be conducted via video conferencing and will take place at 4:30 pm on Thursday, January 13.
This comes as the number of COVID-19 cases has been increasing each day for the past two weeks, with several states reporting the majority of the cases in India. As per the Health Ministry, India has been reporting an average of 1.5 lakh COVID-19 cases each day.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that there has been a significant rise in the positivity rate of COVID-19 in the country since December 30, 2021. He also talked about the highest single-day spike in the number of cases was witnessed across the globe.
Agarwal further said that a sharp increase in the COVID-19 positivity rate has been witnessed in India since December 30, 2021. The positivity rate was 1.1 percent at the end of 2021 while the rate now stands over 11 percent, as of January 12.
The Union Ministry of health and family welfare on Wednesday confirmed that India reported 1,94,720 fresh COVID cases, a rise of around 26,000 from the previous day. At the same time, a total of 442 deaths were also reported. With the addition of the new deaths, the death toll has climbed to 4,84,655.
Many states have decided to impose strict COVID-19 curbs such as the closure of educational institutes, cinema halls, malls, restaurants, bars, gyms, and other public places where a gathering is possible. Many state governments have also imposed a night curfew or a weekend lockdown to curb the COVID-19 spread.