MO DI CALLS FOR RAM PING UP VACCINE PRODUCTION, MORE HOSPITAL BEDS
Hindu sects declare end of Kumbh Mela after PM’s call as national numbers hit a new high
IIndian prime minister Narendra Modi held a special pandemic meeting last night after India added another record 260,778 cases —three times the US daily figure — to pass 14.5 million overall as 1,341 more deaths took its pandemic total to 177,168.
Modi ordered new measures to find beds and speed up the delivery of oxygen and drugs such as the anti-viral Remdesivir. He also asked the officials to utilise the entire national capacity, in the public as well as the private sector, to ramp up vaccine production.
Modi said that India had defeated Covid-19 last year and the country can do it again, with the same principles but faster speed and coordination, with early testing and proper tracking the key to reducing mortality.
After a national lockdown last year ago led to an economic slump, the Indian government is desperate to avoid a second stoppage. But New Delhi reported a record 24,000 coronavirus cases in one day yesterday and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal warned of a “grim” battle ahead as major cities across India went into a weekend lockdown. Kejriwal said it was impossible to know when the virulent new surge would peak. “The situation is grim and worrisome,” he said, highlighting shortages of oxygen and hospital beds.
Maharashtra meanwhile saw another high with 67,123 new coronavirus infections reported yesterday, the highest single-day number in the state. It continues to be the worst affected state by the pandemic with 647,933 active cases at present.
Earlier yesterday, following Modi’s call to observe the ongoing Kumbh Mela festival in Haridwar in a “symbolic” way, the ‘Juna Akhara’ of Hindu ascetics concluded the huge annual event and urged other sects to also agree to end the pilgrimage. Swami Avdheshanand Giri of the sect tweeted the announcement and said: “On the call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Juna Akhara have decided to end Kumbh… Other sants from different Akharas have also agreed.” More than 1,600 people tested positive for coronavirus in barely three days this week at the festival.
States such as Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat directed all district collectors to quarantine people returning from the festival. Devotees returning to Gujarat from the Kumbh Mela will have to undergo a mandatory RT-PCR test, chief minister Vijay Rupani said yesterday.