Covid challenge not fully over yet; priority is to vaccinate all eligible children: PM Modi in huddle with CMs

With a fresh uptick in Covid-19 cases in several states fuelling apprehensions of a fresh wave, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday huddled with chief ministers and underlined the government’s priority to “vaccinate all eligible children at the earliest”.

Noting that it is clear that the Covid challenge is not fully over, Modi emphasised implementing the strategy of ‘test, track and treat’ with efficacy and launching special campaigns in schools for children’s vaccination.

“We are seeing in various European countries the kind of serious conditions being created by Omicron and its sub-variants. Multiple surges have happened there due to these. We need to be on alert keeping in mind the manner in which cases are rising in some states since the last two weeks,” Modi said.

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At the meeting, the PM said that the “balance” between pandemic control measures and economic activities will continue to be the strategy even in future and the approach will be “pre-emptive, pro-active and collective” but “panic” should not be spread. He suggested that there should be 100% RT-PCR tests for serious patients of influenza.

While Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath flagged the high number of cases being seen in the state’s cities in the National Capital Region (NCR), Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said a rise in the number of cases in the state are mainly being seen around Delhi, in Gurugram and Faridabad.

On Wednesday, Delhi reported 1,367 fresh Covid-19 cases and one fatality with the positivity rate at 4.5%. The national capital has recorded over 1,000 new cases in a day for the sixth consecutive day.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal spoke about his government’s recent measures including making masks mandatory again.

While UP and Haryana are BJP-ruled, AAP governs Delhi.

Cases in Delhi have registered an uptick, but the hospitalisation rate so far has been low, accounting for less than 3% of the total active cases.

Kejriwal draws flak

While the prime minister lauded the “cooperative federalism” seen between the Centre and the states in fighting the pandemic, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya criticised Kejriwal for his “mannerism” during the meeting.

“Kejriwal continues to disgrace himself with uncouth mannerism,” Malviya said, tweeting a video clip of the meeting in which Kejriwal was seen sitting in a relaxed manner with his hands behind his head.

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