Prime Minister Narendra Modi who on Thursday chaired a ‘comprehensive’ high-level meeting with Chief Ministers and administrators of states and Union Territories (UTs) to review preparedness for Covid-19 put to rest speculations about a nationwide lockdown in the wake of rise in Covid and Omicron cases in the country and instead asked them to focus ‘more on local containment’.

Prime Minister Modi said the current momentum of the economy had to be maintained and it would be better to focus more on local containment. “Momentum of the economy should be maintained. So it would be better to focus more on local containment,” he said.

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Modi suggested continuation of the preemptive collective and proactive approach to combat the Covid and its new variant Omicron. “Hard work is our only path and victory is our only option. The way the central and state governments had adopted a pre-emptive, proactive and collective approach, the same is the mantra of victory this time as well,” he added.

Stressing on the need for vaccination, the Prime Minister said, “India has given the first dose to about 92 percent of the adult population. The coverage of the second dose has also reached around 70 percent.”

Prime Minister Modi asserted, “Irrespective of variants, vaccination remains the most potent way to deal with the pandemic. In order to defeat Corona we need to keep our readiness ahead of every variant. Along with tackling Omicron, we need to start preparing for any future variant from now itself.”

The meeting among others was attended by Union Ministers Amit Shah, Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State Bharati Pravin Pawar besides the officials of concerned ministries who briefed the meeting about the latest updates on the pandemic situation in the country.

The Prime Minister said that India’s battle with the biggest pandemic of 100 years has now entered its third year. “Hard work is our only path and victory is our only option. We, 130 crore people of India, will surely emerge victorious against Corona with our efforts,” he said.

“The earlier confusion about Omicron is slowly getting cleared now. The Omicron variant is infecting the general public many times faster than the earlier variants. We have to be alert, be careful, but we also have to take care that there is no panic situation. We have to see that in this festive season, the alertness of the people and the administration is not lowered anywhere,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister said the way the central and state governments had adopted a pre-emptive, proactive and collective approach, the same is the mantra of victory this time as well. The more we can limit the corona infection, the less the problem will be, he pointed out.

The Prime Minister said that made in India vaccines are proving their superiority all over the world. “It is a matter of pride for every Indian that today India has given the first dose to about 92 percent of the adult population. The coverage of the second dose has also reached around 70 percent in the country,” he said adding that within 10 days, India has also vaccinated about 30 million of its adolescents.

Modi however said the sooner the precaution dose is given to the frontline workers and senior citizens, the more the capacity of our healthcare system will increase. “We have to intensify the Har Ghar Dastak campaign for 100 per cent vaccination,” he said stressing on the need to counter any misinformation about vaccines or the practice of wearing masks.

‘While making any strategy, it is very important to keep in mind that there should be minimum damage to the livelihood of the common people, economic activities, and momentum of the economy should be maintained. So it would be better to focus more on local containment.

The Prime Minister stressed, “We should be in the position to provide maximum treatment in home isolation situations and for that home isolation guidelines should keep on improving and they should be strictly followed.” He said that use of tele-medicine facilities will help fight the Covid and its variant.

Prime Minister Modi lauded the states for using the 23,000 crore rupees package that was given earlier to revamp the health infrastructure. Under this package more than 800 pediatric units all over the country, 1.5 lakh new ICU and HDU beds, over 5 thousand special ambulances, more than 950 liquid medical oxygen storage tank capacity have been added.

The Prime Minister stressed on the need to keep on expanding the infrastructure. “In order to defeat Corona we need to keep our readiness ahead of every variant. Along with tackling Omicron, we need to start preparing for any future variant from now itself,” he said.

The Chief Ministers thanked the Prime Minister for his leadership during the successive waves of Covid-19 and especially for his support and guidance and for funds provided by the Central government which they said was immense help in boosting health infrastructure in the states.

The Chief Ministers briefed the Prime Minister about their preparedness to tackle increasing Covid cases, through steps like increase in beds, oxygen availability etc.