Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot (File Photo | PTI)
JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him to finalise an integrated standard operating procedure (SOP) for COVID control to ensure better coordination among states, an official release said on Tuesday.
The chief minister also suggested that the vaccination of people aged above 18 be started in the country, it said.
At present, India is vaccinating people aged above 45.
In the first two phases of the vaccination drive, healthcare and frontline workers and people over 60 were inoculated.
In his letter to Modi, Gehlot stressed the need for integrated and holistic efforts to effectively control the spread of COVID-19, the release said.
The chief minister said there is a lack of coordination among states regarding different strategies for COVID control, inter-state issues such as mandatory COVID-19 test for travel, lockdown, night curfew and functioning of educational institutions, due to which there is confusion and fear among the public.
There is a need for an integrated SOP to overcome this, he added.
Gehlot said there has been an "unprecedented" increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in almost all the states of the country including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan in the last one month.
COVID control needs to be made more effective, he said.
Gehlot also urged the prime minister to open vaccination for people over 18.
So far, India has administered 8,31,10,926 COVID-19 vaccine doses as part of the nationwide vaccination drive which began on January 16.
