NEW DELHI: Claiming praise for early lockdown in the country from across the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday advised the chief ministers of seven worst Covid-hit states to explore the option of micro-lockdown for localised containment measures.
He also informed the chief ministers that the states can now utilise 50 per cent of the state disaster relief fund money from the existing 35 per cent for building the infrastructure to deal with the pandemic. “The early lockdown imposed by us drew praise from all over the world, and we have seen its effectiveness. The states can look at the option of micro-containment to focus on measures to contain the pandemic,” Modi said while interacting with the CMs of Maharashtra, Punjab, Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
The seven states account for 63 per cent of the Covid-19 cases, and 77 per cent fatalities. The PM said that 60 districts in the country are reporting most of the Covid-19 cases, and the CMs could focus on them to further contain the pandemic. “The chief ministers can see if they could communicate with people at block level each day in the districts for seven days for effective communication so that the people don’t become complacent since a large number of cases are asymptomatic, with people wondering about the efficacies of the tests,” he said.
The PM stressed on effective tracing, testing and surveillance as the strategy for the containment of the pandemic. Modi stressed that the CMs should see that there are no impediments to the normalisation of the economic activities. Questioning the efficacy of one or two-day local lockdowns imposed by certain states, he asked, “Is that creating difficulties in the resumption of economic activities in your states? This is my request that all states consider it seriously.”