New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the Centre and the states must have a common plan to ensure staggered movement of people after the lockdown. At a video-conference with the chief ministers, he added that the COVID-19 pandemic was threatening normal life.
This is the second such governmental meet to formulate a common exit strategy once the lockdown ends after nearly two weeks. Requesting suggestions from the states on how the country should cope with the pandemic after the lockdown, he said, “It is important to formulate a common exit strategy to ensure staggered re-emergence of the population once the lockdown ends.”
A statement released by the Union government said that the prime minister urged the chief ministers to make testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine their focus during the lockdown so that the pandemic is contained as early as possible. He said that both the Centre and states should ensure that these measures are carried out with seriousness.
He urged the chief ministers to ensure availability of dedicated medical facilities to treat COVID-19 patients, while ensuring that the lockdown is enforced “seriously”. He added that the 21-day lockdown “can’t be business as usual”, and that it was necessary to enforce it to break the chain of transmission.
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The prime minister also asked the states to “work on war footing, identify virus hotspots and encircle them” to ensure minimum loss of life.
According to the statement, he observed that the global scenario was “far from satisfactory” and a second wave in some countries is expected.
Nine chief ministers participated in the meeting along with home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and other Central ministers. A picture was circulated which showed the ministers sitting far apart from each other inside a large hall.
Some chief ministers, like Tamil Nadu’s K. Palaniswami, requested for more Central funds at the meeting, but there was no response from the prime minister’s side.
During the meeting, Modi and the chief ministers also discussed the Tablighi Jamaat case in which hundreds attended a religious gathering. Many of them have now become “super-spreaders”, and are linked with nearly 400 cases. The state heads and the prime minister discussed efforts for contact tracing in these cases.
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Modi accepted Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s suggestion that all chief ministers should speak to religious leaders from their respective states and ask them to tell the community members about the need for social distancing and refrain from large gatherings. Modi also supported Thackeray’s view that citizens need to be in good mental health during the lockdown period, according to a statement released by Thackeray’s office.
The meeting was held after thousands of migrant workers were seen walking back to their respective villages after the prime minister announced a lockdown. Soon after the announcement, large parts of India also saw a scramble for essential supplies.
India has 1,764 coronavirus cases including 50 deaths, even as health experts have been constantly stressing on the necessity of mass testing in India. However, currently India does not have either sufficient testing kits or protection gears for health workers. The Union government has also faced criticism for its non-transparent way of functioning. The government has revealed little information about its preparedness and plans to tackle the pandemic.
(With PTI inputs)