Modi tells CMs to fight Covid locally

We must be prepared for future variants: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asked chief ministers to ensure minimum damage to the livelihood of common people and economic activities as they work to contain the coronavirus.

“There should be minimum damage to the livelihood of the common people, economic activities, and the momentum of the economy be maintained. It is very important to keep these things in mind while making any (containment) strategy,” the Prime Minister told Chief Ministers at a virtual meeting to review public health preparedness and the ongoing vaccination programme.

“So it would be better to focus more on local containment,” he added.

The Prime Minister said the way the central and state governments had adopted a pre-emptive, proactive and collective approach in previous waves, the same is the mantra of victory this time as well.

“The more we can limit the corona infection, the less the problem will be,” he added.

“We have to be alert, be careful. But we also have to ensure that there is no panic situation. We have to see that in this festive season, the alertness of people and administration is not lowered anywhere,” Modi said.

The sooner the precaution dose is given to the frontline workers and senior citizens, the more the capacity of our healthcare system will increase, he said, stressing the need to counter any misinformation about vaccines or the practice of wearing masks.

India has given the first dose of vaccines to about 92 per cent of its adult population while 70 per cent received both doses.

“In order to defeat coronavirus we need to keep our readiness ahead of every variant. Along with tackling Omicron, we need to start preparing for any future variant from now itself,” he said.