PM Modi to interact with CMs of 6 states on Covid situation on July 16

PM Modi also called for vigilance against new variants of the coronavirus and a faster vaccination campaign to get people inoculated.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday meet the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha and Maharashtra, where the number of Covid-19 cases have risen in several districts or have not come down in the recent past. The next round of these review meetings comes after PM Modi's interaction with the chief ministers of eight northeastern states on Tuesday.

PM Modi met the chief ministers of the northeastern states virtually and expressed concerns about people rushing to tourist spots and marketplaces. (ANI Photo)

The government said later on Tuesday that nearly 73.4 per cent of new Covid-19 cases reported so far in July are from Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. During a press briefing, officials also said that 55 districts in India reporting more than 10 per cent positivity rate for week ending July 13.

PM Modi met the chief ministers of the northeastern states virtually and expressed concerns about people rushing to tourist spots and marketplaces without wearing masks and not following social distancing. The Prime Minister also said the pace of the country's vaccination drive needs to be continuously ramped up to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

"The number of Covid-19 cases is rising. We need to take strict action to curb the situation at the micro-level. It is a matter of concern," PM Modi said. "We need to encourage people to follow Covid-19 appropriate behaviour," he added.

India's Covid-19 tally is now over 30.91 million and the country's caseload is the world's second-highest behind the United States. On Tuesday, 32,906 new Covid-18 cases, the lowest daily tally since mid-March, were recorded along with 2020 fatalities. The death toll included a backlog of hundreds of previously unreported fatalities in Madhya Pradesh, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare. India's death toll has now mounted to 410,784.

PM Modi also called for vigilance against new variants of the coronavirus and a faster vaccination campaign to get people inoculated. The Delta variant is spreading in many countries and was first detected in India and now experts have identified what they say is a new variant called Delta Plus.

The PM said stricter steps were needed at the micro-level to check the spread of the coronavirus and called for greater emphasis on micro-containment zones. "We need to continue accelerating our vaccination drive," he added.