COVID-19: PM Modi To Hold Meeting With CMs On June 16-17

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a video conference meeting with all the chief ministers of the states on June 16 and 17th. Ever since the lockdown has started, PM Modi has conducted five meetings with CMs. The forthcoming meeting is the first after 'Unlock 1.0' has been announced in the country. This comes against the backdrop of increase in the coronavirus positive cases in the country. The COVID-19 cases in India zoomed past 3 lakh mark and the country is now at the third position on the list of countries with more number of coronavirus positive cases.

On June 16, Modi will interact with the chief ministers of 21 states/UTs - Punjab, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Goa, Manipur, Nagaland, Puducherry, Assam, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman Diu, and Lakshadweep.

On June 17, Modi will exchange views with the CMs of 15 states/UTs - Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu And Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana and Odisha.

The Modi government had imposed a strict lockdown in the country on March 25th and it was then extended several times. Currently, India is under Unlock 1.0 which entails more relaxations.

Dr Jayaprakash Mulyil, an epidemiologist and former principal of CMC Vellore speaking to a news daily said that, "Many diseases have sub-clinical infections, we do not call them ‘cases’ when most people recover spontaneously without treatment. Here we are counting COVID-19 cases and the numbers are looking very impressive, whereas what many other countries are doing is asking patients to stay home, come to the hospital when they have breathing difficulty, check oxygen saturation in the car park, and take a call. In Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, there is no point in finding positive cases and testing everybody where there is obvious community transmission. By the time the whole thing is over, 60 crore will be infected. Counting that doesn’t help us much, it only scares people. If you want to change the picture, you need to concentrate on beds and prevent worsening of cases and things will get better.”