Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday, reviewed the Covid-19 situation in the country as daily Covid cases hit a new high on Thursday, crossing the 4-lakh mark for the second time in less than a week at 4,12,262. The country also witnessed the highest-ever daily fatalities at 3,980 in the last 24 hours, Health Ministry data showed.

“He was given a detailed picture on the Covid outbreak in various States and districts. He was informed about the 12 States thathave more than 1 lakh active cases. The PM was also apprised about the districts with high disease burden,” said an official release.

Vaccination drive

The Prime Minister urged the ministers to sensitise States so that the speed of vaccination does not come down. Citizens should be facilitated for vaccination despite lockdowns, and healthcare workers involved in vaccination must not be diverted for other duties, the release said.

“He was informed that around 17.7 crore vaccines have been supplied to the States. The PM also reviewed the State-wise trends on vaccine wastage. The PM was briefed that around 31 per cent of eligible population over the age of 45 has been given at least one dose,” the release added.

The high-level meeting was attended by many senior Ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Harsh Vardhan and Piyush Goyal, apart from other Ministers and senior officials.

Meanwhile, Modi also examined the availability of medicines and the steps being taken to augment the production of Remdesivir in the country. Besides that, the need to ensure quick and holistic containment measures were also discussed. He noted that an advisory was sent to the States to identify districts of concern where case positivity is 10 per cent or more and bed occupancy is more than 60 per cent on either oxygen-supported or ICU beds.

Cumulatively, the total cases stood at 2,10,77,410 of which, active cases were at 35,66,398, those who recovered at 1,72,80,844 and death toll was 2,30,168. A total of 3,29,113 people have been discharged in the last 24 hours.

So far, India administered 16,25,13,339 jabs, of which, 19,55,733 shots were given in the last 24 hours till 8:00 am on Thursday. On wednesday, the total number of tests done stood at 19,23,131, as per the government data.

In its phase 3 vaccination drive, which was started on May 1 for the 18-44 age group, the country administered 2,30,305 shots in a single till 8:00 PM on Wednesday. Cumulatively, 9,02,731 beneficiaries have been given their first dose of vaccination across 12 States/UTs since the more liberalised strategy began, as per the government. These 12 states are: Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Kerala has declared a nine-day lockdown from May 8 to 16 in view of the unabated rise in Covid-19 cases and high test positivity rates.

“The entire State of Kerala will be under lockdown from 6 am on 8 May to 16 May. This is in the background of a strong 2nd wave of #Covid-19,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan tweeted at 11.30 am on Thursday.

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