Surge in Covid cases Narendra Modi to interact with CMs tomorrow

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with the Chief Ministers on the Covid-19 situation and the ongoing vaccination drive on Wednesday as the Centre looks to ramp up the inoculation exercise amid a rise in infection in some states. Official sources said Modi will hold a video conference to discuss the issues with the Chief Ministers, an exercise which he has been holding regularly since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Official sources said that Modi will hold a video conference at 12.30 pm on Wednesday to discuss the issue with the Chief Ministers, an exercise which he has been holding regularly since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Modi's last interaction with the Chief Ministers was in January before the vaccination roll-out. He had announced that the Centre will bear the expenses of vaccinating nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers in the first round and suggested that public representatives, a reference to politicians, should not be part of this initial exercise.

The announcement comes under the backdrop of some states reporting a surge in Covid cases which has resulted in local lockdowns in several districts, especially in the worst-hit state of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and others.

Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a surge in Covid-19 daily cases, accounting for 78.41 per cent of the new cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

A total of 26,291 new cases were registered in a day. Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 16,620 (accounting for 63.21 per cent of the daily new cases). It is followed by Kerala with 1,792 while Punjab reported 1,492 new cases. "A rising trajectory of daily new cases is visible in eight states. These are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana," the ministry said. Meanwhile, the government announced that the total vaccination doses administered until Monday crossed a milestone of 3 crore to reach 3.15 crore.