Focus on micro-containment: Modi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 8

As the daily cases crossed 1.25 lakh in a new peak on Thursday, PM Narendra Modi asked states to fight the pandemic on a war footing, advising them to focus on testing than vaccination and on micro-containment than lockdown.

In a virtual review meeting with CMs today, the PM said vaccines would have to be prioritised due to limited supply. “The manufacturing capacity of vaccines is being worked on. The key is to stress testing as much and even more than vaccines. The more infections we find, the faster we can treat,” said the PM after several CMs, including Punjab’s Capt Amarinder Singh, called for flexibility for states to draft their own jab strategy. The PM urged the states to first reach 100 per cent saturation of eligible people.

“Vaccination is a long-term strategy. Some people are playing politics on the issue.”

He said Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, MP, Gujarat and other states had crossed the previous peak, which was a matter of “concern”. “People have become casual and the administrations too are looking lazy,” he said. Advising against lockdowns, the PM said states must test proactively to detect cases as many people were asymptomatic.

Highest inoculations

The daily vaccine doses administered in India touched 34,30,502, most in the world, even as total doses administered so far crossed 9-crore mark

Call it ‘corona curfew’

The PM said night curfew had been an accepted experiment globally to contain the pandemic and called for popularising it as ‘corona curfew’ to spread awareness