COVID-19: Modi to hold video meeting with CMs on Tuesday, Wednesday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting with the chief ministers of states and union territories on Tuesday and Wednesday (June 16-17) on ways to check the spread of COVID-19 in the country as it exits the lockdown.

The two-day virtual meet comes at a time when the country is witnessing an alarming rise of the virus cases. India saw a jump of over 11,000 cases for the third consecutive day on Monday, taking the total number of cases to over 3.32 lakh, while the toll rose to 9,520 with 325 more deaths.

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On Tuesday afternoon, Modi will hold a video-conference with chief ministers, lieutenant governors and administrators of 21 states and union territories. These include Punjab, Kerala, Goa, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, the northeastern states and some UTs.

The prime minister will interact with chief ministers of 15 states and the lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. These include high case load states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka, Gujarat, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

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This would be the prime minister’s sixth round of consultation with the chief ministers, the last being on May 11. Home Minister Amit Shah spoke with all the chief ministers over telephone in the last week of May, just before lockdown-4 was to end.

Under “Unlock 1”, several relaxations have been made for public and businesses to ensure that economic activities hit by the lockdown gather momentum.

Ahead of his meeting with chief ministers, the prime minister had on Saturday reviewed the steps being taken to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in areas with high case load and the road map for effective management of the situation.

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Modi had suggested that the home minister and the health minister convene an emergency meeting with the Delhi lieutenant governor and chief minister, and other officials to plan a “coordinated and comprehensive response” to handle the challenge posed by rising cases of COVID-19 in Delhi. The meets took place on Sunday.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has clarified that no lockdown will be imposed in the national capital in the coming days, while in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a complete shutdown in state capital Chennai and three adjoining districts from June 19-30.

(With inputs from agencies)