Modi to hold all-party meeting on Friday, discuss coronavirus situation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet representatives of political parties Friday morning to discuss the coronavirus pandemic after promising that the country's priority is to "make vaccine available for all".
 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi are likely to attend the meeting, NDTV.com reported quoting unnamed sources. Parliamentary Affairs Ministry contacted floor leaders of all parties for the meeting, it said.
 

With a daily increase of 38,772 in total cases, India’s tally of coronavirus cases has risen from 9,392,919 on Sunday to 9,431,691 – an increase of 0.4 per cent. Death toll has reached 137,139, with 443 fatalities in a day. The seventh-most-affected country by active cases, third by fatality, and second by total cases, India has added 291,826 cases in the past 7 days.
 

India now accounts for 2.47 per cent of all active cases globally (one in every 40 active cases), and 9.36 per cent of all deaths (one in every 11 deaths).
 

The central government and states have to "work together" in controlling the coronavirus pandemic and "no one can impose any view", Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the chief ministers of eight states worst affected in the pandemic in a virtual meeting on November 24. "Our priority is to make vaccine available for all. States should put in the necessary mechanism including cold storage," he said.

Modi on Saturday visited the three vaccine hubs to personally review the development of coronavirus vaccine and the manufacturing process. On Monday, he held a virtual meeting with three teams working on developing and manufacturing Covid-19 vaccine, and said they should take extra efforts to inform people in simple language about the vaccine and related matters such as its efficacy.
 

A statement from the Prime Minister's Office said that Modi also asked the companies, represented by these teams, to come out with their suggestions and ideas regarding the regulatory processes and related matters.
 

"The PM advised all the departments concerned to engage with the manufacturers and seek to resolve matters so that the efforts by these companies bear fruit in order to serve the needs of the country and the entire world," it added.
 

These teams were from Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd Pune, Biological E Ltd Hyderabad and Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd Hyderabad.