New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today will hold a Council of Ministers meeting amid rising cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus. The meeting is expected to take place at 4pm, according to Hindustan Times’.
According to the report, the meeting is expected to be attended by all ministers and among the things that are expected to be discussed include next year’s assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
PM Modi had taken stock of the pandemic situation in a high-level meeting called last Thursday where he asked officials to maintain a high level of vigil and alertness amid the Omicron spread.
In a communication to the states and UTs earlier, the Centre had said the Omicron variant is at least thrice more transmissible than its Delta variant and asked them to “activate” war rooms, keep analysing even small trends and surges and keep taking strict and prompt containment action at the district and local levels.
India has identified 653 cases of the Omicron variant across 21 states and union territories (UTs) so far, out of which 186 people have recovered or migrated, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday.
Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of 167 such cases followed by Delhi at 165, Kerala 57, Telangana 55, Gujarat 49 and Rajasthan 46.
The report quoted an expert as saying, “It is likely that India will see a period of explosive growth in daily cases and that the intense growth phase will be relatively short.”
Last week, India allowed booster shots and included teenagers aged 15 to 18 in the ongoing vaccination drive. Two more vaccines as well as Merck & Co.’s antiviral pill molnupiravir were approved by the local drug regulator on Tuesday.
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