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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to interact with the Chief Ministers of all states via video conferencing on the COVID situation on Thursday (January 13, 2022) at 4:30 p.m., amid an unprecedented rise in COVID-19 cases following the appearance of the Omicron strain in the country.
This is the Prime Minister's first meeting with all state chief ministers this year. PM Modi met with chief ministers numerous times last year to discuss the COVID situation.
On January 9, PM Modi presided over a meeting to assess the COVID-19 situation in the country. The prime minister had underlined the importance of ensuring enough health infrastructure at the district level during that review meeting, and had urged authorities to continue communication with the states on this issue. PM Modi stated during the previous meeting that a meeting with Chief Ministers will be held to examine state-specific scenarios, best practises, and the public health response.
On Wednesday, Dr VK Paul, a member of the NITI Aayog, warned that the infection caused by the Omicron type of coronavirus is not the same as a regular cold and that people should not dismiss it.
"Omicron is replacing Delta variant of COVID-19 as it is highly transmissible. It should be considered as the common cold. Normally, the transmission or expansion of the pandemic would take longer but this time it has been very rapid because of the high transmissibility," he said at the Health Ministry media briefing.
Mentioning a steep surge in coronavirus cases across India, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry said, "A sharp surge in COVID cases in India with the active cases 9,55,319 today. Emerging states of concern (reporting surge in COVID cases) are Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and Gujarat."
"Emerging states of concerns reporting high positive rates- Maharashtra with a rate positivity rate of 22.39 per cent, West Bengal 32.18 per cent, Delhi 23.1 per cent and Uttar Pradesh 4.47 per cent," he added.
Meanwhile, in the last few days, India has seen a tremendous increase in COVID-19 cases. On Wednesday, India reported 1,94,720 new COVID-19 cases and 442 deaths, according to the Union Health Ministry. This virus has a daily positive rate of 11.05 percent in the country. Active cases make up 2.65% of the total number of cases.