Global surge in Covid-19 cases a warning for us: PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the surge in Covid-19 cases in Europe, the US, and some of the neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Thailand was a warning to the world as well as India that the coronavirus was still amidst us.

Taking stock of the Covid situation in six states and the increasing number of cases in Kerala and Maharashtra, Modi said states must take “proactive measures to rule out any possibility of a third wave”. Forty-seven districts in India reported more than 10 per cent test positivity rate for the week ended July 15.

“All of us are at a point where apprehensions about the third wave are continuously expressed. We need to continue with the strategy of ‘test, track, treat and teeka’ (vaccination) while putting a special focus on micro-containment zones. Districts with large numbers should be focused on,” the PM said.

Modi was holding a meeting with the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Kerala. These six states contributed 80 per cent to the total Covid infections and 84 per cent to the total deaths from Covid during the last week.

He cautioned that similar trends were seen in January-February before the second wave. “Initially, experts believed that states where the second wave originated will see normalisation first. However, increasing numbers in Kerala and Maharashtra are a cause for grave worry,” he said.

The world is moving towards a third Covid wave, officials said. Spain, for instance, has seen a 64 per cent jump in weekly cases while the Netherlands has witnessed a 300 per cent increase. 

“Third wave is being discussed because we have not achieved herd immunity yet. Our population is still vulnerable. Our decline has slowed and this is a warning,” said V K Paul, chairman of the Covid task force, during the health ministry briefing on Friday.

He said that as vaccination would increase, it was possible to reach a safe zone. “Next 100-150 days are very critical. We have to be alert,” Paul added. Meanwhile, the prime minister said the visuals of people crowding in public places after the unlocking were of serious concern. “We need to follow protocol and avoid crowding as many states have metropolitan cities with dense populations,” he said.

He asked the states to strengthen their IT systems, control rooms, and call centres so that citizens get access to resources and data in a transparent manner and patients are spared the hassle. Noting that out of the 332 PSA oxygen plants allocated to states represented in the meeting, 53 have been commissioned, the PM asked the chief ministers to expedite the completion of the plants.

He pointed out that the central government had released an emergency Covid-19 response package of more than Rs 23,000 crore.