“The self-confidence that we gained in our corona fight should not turn into overconfidence. Our success should not be the reason for carelessness,” the Prime Minister warned.
At a meeting with Chief Ministers amid a worrying spike in Covid cases in some states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said it was critical to stop what he called the “emerging second peak” of Covid with decisive steps including micro-containment zones, increased testing and enforcement of restrictions like masks.
“If we don’t stop this pandemic right now, then there could be a nationwide outbreak. We have to immediately stop the emerging second peak and take big and decisive steps,” PM Modi told the Chief Ministers.
“The self-confidence that we gained in our corona fight should not turn into overconfidence. Our success should not be the reason for carelessness,” the Prime Minister warned.
Initiatives need to be taken without creating a state of panic among people, he stressed.
PM Modi, while speaking on the districts that had seen a surge in the past few days, said it was worth considering that these were also the zones where testing and vaccination was comparatively less.
Calling for increased RT-PCR tests for proper testing, PM Modi also highlighted the need of tracking of the infection and a focus on smaller towns.
“Over 70 per cent of the tests should be RTPCR. States should not rely on Rapid Antigen Tests,” the Prime Minister advised, referring to Kerala, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.
Tier 2 and 3 towns, which had escaped the first wave, were getting affected this time round, PM Modi noted, adding that it would not take much for the virus to spread to villages from there, which would overwhelm the health care system of the country.
The Prime Minister also cautioned against vaccine wastage in some states, and said: “This is something that must not happen and needs urgent attention.”
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